Milo, Jyn, and the Teleportation experiment
by MilotheOperator
Summary: Hi! I kinda started this in 7th grade and continued it my freshman year, so the content gets better as it goes on. Anyways, Milo Masters, a former U.S.C.M. Special Operator, gets bored and decides to help a friend with an... 'extracurricular' project. They utilize an ancient gateway with some experimental tech that happens to drop them off in a not-so 'fictional' world.
1. Chapter 1

_**Milo's Perspective**_

After hours of agonizing run-ins with the crazed local wildlife, (Confounded Poptops…) I reached the large, arch-like ruin, that the others had apparently entered. I quickly hurried up the stairs, hoping to examine anything strange-looking. _Nothing,_ I thought, scanning the area around a glowing purple console. I sighed. I hopelessly let my gaze drift to a odd-almost-shimmering piece of air. _That's not a normal-_ I was slammed by an invisible arm, that began restraining me by my neck. "Who are you, and why did you follow me?" a familiar voice hissed in my ear. I grabbed a firm hold of his arm and threw him over the top of my head to the ground, leaving a small dent in a patch of moss. "Jyn, chill out. It's just me." The shimmer faded, revealing a small figure in robed armor. "Milo?" he asked. I nodded, making the best disappointed face I had. "Explain." I said, gesturing to the small black box in his hand. He began to stutter out the answer; "Ah, uh, It's um a.. Stealth Boy. It, uh, turns you invisible, temporarily, until the battery runs out…" he clipped it back onto his belt loop, then he got up from the darkened black brick platform. He then walked over to the console, which had a panel unscrewed from the back. 'Come here' He gestured with his waving hands. I walked over to him, still kinda annoyed. " _WHAT." I whispered loudly._ He took off his plate-mask, so I saw his face. He was fair, to be honest, with short, stiff blonde hair, and deep blue eyes. There was a small scar above his nose, as if he was burned there once. "So, it turns out this is a modified chip, for I can only use the presets and the last 10 destinations. Hmm. Odd." He had a PDA attached to the chip that read off a bunch of destinations I had mostly never heard of. He swiped a few commands in, only for a big, 'Denied' message to appear. He sighed. "Well, we always could try opening the portal to see if it works…" He grinned. "Have your vacation all planned-out yet, Milo?" he asked with a dark tint in his tone. I still found most of this non-exciting. "Uh, sure. I was definitely planning to go on a hiking trip in, uh," I looked down at the screen, quickly scanning through the presets, which read;

"Preset_1: Sector 67, New_Adventure"

"Preset_2: Sector 212, Pyrrhia"

"Preset_3: Sector 009, unknown_sequenceSFH2"

"Preset_4: Sector 38, Mojave_Wasteland_2077"

 _What should I choose?_

I'd have to get a bit more supplies, but I'll live. I made the stupidest face I could think of, causing Jyn to laugh, which forced him to avert his eyes, as I pressed a random destination tab. I heard a loud whirring sound as Jyn looked at me with wide eyes. I walked to the opposite side of the console, staring at the swirling vortex that had appeared. "So, I have a distinct feeling this destination was selected at random," Jyn said, shielding his eyes from the winds that had appeared out of nowhere... _Wait. Wind? In the middle of a canyon. Is it just me, or is gravity broken?_ I wondered. Lifting my feet was a lot less taxing, now… _hmm._ Dust surged toward the portal from all sides, flowing into it like it was a tornado. _Yikes, this doesn't look like a dust-devil…_ (A dust-devil is a miniature tornado) I dove off the platform, hitting the flowing grass below. _It's going to tear this place apart, and us with it!_ "Turn it off!" I screamed at Jyn. He had attached a hook to the side of the platform and was hanging on like he was water-skiing on magma. He had his eyes squeezed shut when he shook his head. Behind him, a single wire was sticking out of the panel. I gripped a knife out of the sheath on my ankle, then flung it in the direction of the loose wire, sending it spiraling into the wind. The handle clipped the wire, pulling it out of connection, before flying into the sealing portal. Jyn collapsed in a sigh of relief. Throwing my leg over the edge, I climbed back up the platform, panting. I sat down next to Jyn, clutching my knees. "So, next time…" I paused, taking a look back at the portal's location to be sure it was gone. "... I think we should be a tad more prepared." He flipped over to his back, giving me an exhausted look. "You think?" he groaned. I grinned back at him. "Well, at least it works."

"Yeah… I guess that's a maybe-plus-side."

"Let's go with that. We have to go prepare. Shall we?"

"Really? Even after that, you still want to go somewhere?" He grumbled, scowling. I shrugged helplessly. "Better than sitting here, waiting for them to come back." I reasoned, watching him grimace at the fact there was nothing for him to do either. "Alright, let's go." He said, brushing himself off.

"So, tell me again, why do we need this junk?" I said, lugging a cardboard box of supplies to the gateway. Jyn looked up from the console, which he'd just finished repairing. He pointed to some odd pieces of metal twisted around a rainbow-colored gem. Colors almost, well, _shifted_ , as if they were pure energy ceding and receding through the stone. "These," he said, still pointing at the stone, "Are some _extremely_ rare, as they are useful, magic stones." I blinked. "I don't believe you." I grunted. He continued anyway, grumbling under his breath. "They allow you to speak and understand any language ever recorded, with the small price of a limit to any magical capabilities that the user may have." he took them out, placing them in a small gun, that almost looked like some sci-fi alien gun from the 1950's. He grinned. "Unless, of course, you create a gun that disintegrates them, firing their energy into a being. THEN you can use the stone's abilities, as well as your own. Hold still." He fired the gun, sending a bolt of light into my body. I screamed. This _hurt._ It felt like being electrocuted, then getting your blood replaced with searing hot oil. I fell to the ground, convulsing, then laid there for a while, waiting for the pain to subside. Jyn peered over me. "Wake up and smell the ashes, Mr. Freeman." he laughed. I got up from the ground, groaning and swearing words that would have no doubt gave me dish duty for a week in the military. "So, how'd it feel?" he chirped, looking genuinely interested. I groaned. "Like I'm wondering if I can shoot you when it's your turn." He shook his head, grinning. "Nope! Already did! That's how I knew it worked!" I glared, wondering if it was permanent, just in case there was still an option of shooting him. "Oh, you'll need one of these too." He held out a small teal-colored comlink. I reached for it, then hesitated. He chuckled. "This doesn't do anything harmful, it's just a modified comlink that I linked directly Crusoe's ship. I gingerly plucked it out of his palm, then fitted it around my ear. He walked back over to the console, then started fidgeting with the PDA he'd attached. "So, since I know where, um, three of these go," he pointed at the first, third, and last selections on the presets. "I think we should enter the second one." I tilted my head, frowning. "So you guys _have_ been around. Wouldn't it be safer to go through the ones we know are at least semi-safe?" He turned to scowl at me. "Shut up before I talk myself out of it." _So he's doing this because it'd be boring to do something you've done before, unless it's a different reason. Fear? Maybe._ I raised my hands in front of me. "Alright, you've got me. Last question though, how exactly, are we supposed to get back?" _I hope that the portal doesn't act like last time. Then again..._ I morphed into a dragon, like earlier when that crazy medic attacked me, except with some slight changes. I switched every color to a deeper, black and purple shade. Raising my wings and claws, I examined them. My scales were primarily black, with deep shades of purple under my wings, which were twice the size of my body span. My razor-sharp talons were an ebony black, slightly darker than my scales, yet not near as heavy. _Good, heavy so the portal doesn't suck me in like a vacuum. Stealthy-looking too, just in case of hostiles. I should be able to take on almost anyone in this body anyways._

Jyn turned around and almost jumped out of his skin, then realized it was me. I laughed, as he stood with his arms folded and looking very cross. "Let's go already." he muttered. He slung the L115A on his shoulder, leaving a glowing purple sword dangling loose at his side. Standing in front of the twisting tunnel of light was a lot less queasier than before, since it wasn't tearing up the world, eating everything that wasn't attached to the ground properly. He sighed. "See you on the other side!" he leapt into the portal with a punctual 'Woah!' I slowly walked toward the swirling portal, which was ruled out in color with mainly reds and purples. "Well, here goes something!" I tucked in my talons and tail tight to my chest as I sailed through the air into the portal. _What could possibly be worse than this anyways?_ I thought.

 _Wha-Where am I…_ I thought, opening my eyes to a canopy of trees, sunlight filtering through at sickening rations. I groaned. _Well, whatever I landed on, it sure wasn't soft,_ I looked down, my heart skipping a beat, before realizing I was still a dragon. _Yikes, almost had a heart-attack. Hmmm. Speaking of heart-attacks…_ "Jyn!" I looked around for the distinctive white of his robes. Nothing. _Odd. He was right in front of me._ A sudden idea hit like a thunderbolt. _Jyn, if you got captured, I swear I will use your kneecaps as hockey-pucks._ Sitting up, I stretched my wings, nearly hitting a nearby squirrel. **Bang.** A gunshot echoed across the forest, followed by a yell of fury, mixed with a squeal of fear in the same voice. "Jyn...of course. Down the rabbit hole…" I sighed. I almost spread my wings to lift off, then remembered how new I was to this. _Maybe after I stop Jyn from killing locals, I can try flying._ I galloped through the forest, hearing more gunshots followed by a roar. _And this is where it escalates…_ I thought silently. I eventually reached a small clearing, where in one corner of the meadow, Jyn crouched, cursing and bandaging his leg swiftly. In the opposite corner was two dragons, both with varying colors of red on their scales. One had a bullet wound on his right foreleg, as well as multiple slashes that looked reminiscent of sword wounds. He was crouched low against the ground, growling. The other dragon stood behind him, her face froze in eternal rage. _I wonder if they'll attack me. They better not…_ I stepped into the light of the clearing with a sigh. _Here's hoping…_ "Whatever's going on, it's probably not my fault." I said, grinning at Jyn. He sighed with relief, then pointed next to me. "What is it- _Whuff!_ " I was suddenly on the ground, tackled by one of the red dragons. "NightWing, you have quite the nerve to enter Queen Scarlet's kingdom uninvited. Which I may ask, why do you dare?" Hissed a raspy, sneering voice in my ear. I tried to move my head to get a better look at my attacker, but they slammed my head down as soon as it left the ground. "Alright, I get it Judge Dredd, I'm-" I faltered. _Name, name, need a new name…_ The voice returned, slamming my head into the dirt again. "Well?! I don't have all day!" I heard Jyn yelling something, but I couldn't understand from my position. "Shadowtalon. Yeah, my name is Shadowtalon." I liked it, it sounded like the name of a dark, but righteous, hero of the night. "What were your plans in the queen's kingdom, Shadowtalon of the NightWings?" rasped the voice, putting more of their weight on my left shoulder. "I-I was just exploring with my friend Jyn, who ran off while I was asleep, probably hearing you blundering around like the clunking stooges you are." I answered, noticing his talons slowly creeping towards my neck. They stopped, as her face twisted in disgust. "You're friends with a _scavenger_?" the voice hissed with a slightly more hostile edge. Suddenly, a voice cried across the clearing. "Arc, the scavenger escaped!" _Jyn. Apparently, from what I've gathered, humans are called 'Scavengers', and black dragons are 'NightWings' Hmm. Interesting. My captor's name is 'Arc'... Might come in handy…_ The weight suddenly disappeared. "Get up." growled Arc. I sprang to my feet. "Yeesh, alright officer, can I get a warning and be off already?" I said in a mocking tone. I turned around, a worried feeling slowly corrupting my mind. "Well, am I free to go?" They scowled at me like, 'Some spunky NightWing for a warm-up? I'm game.' "You could try, if you want some serious injuries…" said the male, pausing as if expecting me to break for it. "Or you could do the sensible thing and come with us as our prisoner to fight for her majesty in the arena." _Yikes, gladiators. Well, could be worse. Maybe. At least it's not guaranteed death, like the front lines..._ "Alright, I accept my fate. Take me to your leader, o'-so-powerful warriors." _Karma's going to be your worst enemy, as I am it's instrument. Fear for your souls and repent of your sins, for I am your doom._ I thought defiantly, almost laughing.

 **Just to be clear, Milo and Jyn are from a different story I'm currently working on.**

 **I wish I could do a three-way crossover...**

 **Which, I kinda am, since I based Jyn off of my Fallout: New Vegas avatar and a Terraria avatar...**

 **Please review, and** _ **constructive**_ **reviews are welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

" _ **SOMEBODY KILL ME BEFORE I DO IT MYSELF!"**_

 _ **-My fingers after every paragraph.**_

So in the shortest time, probably record time, I was captured within my first five minutes of the exploration of a new world.

That's not exactly going to look good on travel brochures, I can grant you that.

I'm Milo, for those who can't stand to pay attention. I probably wouldn't have. I'd probably discard this whole deal as a freaking terrible fiction, then burn it, and sit down and drink hot chocolate in the light of the fire. I'd _really_ like some hot chocolate right now… Back to my current situation. New dimension. Confused as some other species by locals. Arrested. Jyn escaped to hell knows where. Learnt to fly the hard way. Suddenly know how Princess Andromeda felt...You know, strapped on a rock waiting for death? Well, mine's not guaranteed, as far as I'm concerned. To be frank, presently, I'm chained on the stupidest arrangement of mass imprisonment I've ever seen. Arc, one of the guards who brought me here, as well as her accomplice, got reinforcements to chain me down, along with clamping my wings, muttering something about 'mind-reading'. _Wonder what that was all about…_ I thought, edging closer to the edge of the pillar, looking how far down it was. I shuddered, seeing that jumping could be scratched off the list. "Suicide usually is a pretty bad idea." said a depressed voice beside me. I swung my head around to see that there was more pillars, rather close together. The chains extended through the dragon's bonds next to me, as it continued to the next prisoner, to next and so on. "Death isn't the best answer. Not yet, at least." continued the voice on my right side. It came from a tan dragon, with a long black scar on his side. "Um, sorry who and what are you?" I asked him. He blinked at me, shifting his talons nervously. "The first question first, I guess. I'm Sidewinder. I really don't know if that last question was you trying to lighten the mood or-" he said before I cut him off. "No, I was asking a serious question" I answered. "I really don't know what kind of dragon you are." He looked at me as if he was wondering if he should be afraid of me or think I'm crazy. "I'm obviously a SandWing." he sighed, lifting up his tail, which had an end that resembled a scorpion barb. "Ooh, that's cool. I kinda wish I had something like that." I looked at my tail, which ended in a small rounded tip. "Well, now that I think of it, I'd probably end up poisoning someone by accident." I thought out loud, noticing his gaze flicker to the black scar on his side and shiver. "That's what that's from, isn't it? A poisoned barb?" His eyes drifted down to his talons as he nodded. _I wonder what his story is..._ "How'd you get here?" I asked finally. He looked up at me. "I was just...wandering, I guess. Then I somehow ended up in the middle of an intense battle with fire bursting everywhere and it was super scary, so I hid behind some rocks until I couldn't hear it anymore. Then I came out and was captured by SkyWings and put up here. I-I was traveling with a MudWing called Rail, but I haven't seen him so far. We w-were separated during the battle." I could hear that he was on the brink of tears, so I decided to leave him alone for a while. _He's nice. He doesn't really have a hostile bone in his body, perhaps. I'll have to take him with me when I esca-_ Movement in front of my vision shattered my thoughts. "Hello!" A startling dragon shouted at me. I looked up at her. "Hi! Do you perhaps do mail? I need to send a letter to someone, namely a certain guard called Arc? You know, a spooky letter, that says 'You'll never be safe again, I'm coming for you'?" I yelled. She frowned. I heard Sidewinder whimper next to me. "I'm not a courier. I'm Peril, the queen's champion. Besides, even if I wanted to do that, I couldn't. It'd burn up." she gestured to her talons, which were literally on fire. _Combustion magic? No, can't be. Only seen that once, on an item at that. Heh, and I have that item on my normal form... Perhaps a medical condition then._ She continued. "I just came to see you because I heard the guards caught another NightWing, and I thought, 'Wow, maybe he's a lot more lively than the other one' and-"

"Hold up, another NightWing? How is that exiting? Don't you get them all the time?" I interrupted.

She scrunched her nose. "Well, no. You guys are completely off-the-grid. Which is why I'm excited to fight you in the arena. I heard you guys could read minds, is that true?" I thought for a minute. "Well, not that I know of." I answered. She suddenly looked distracted, peering off at a dragon in the distance. "Ooh, the MudWing is here!" she swooped past, leaving a trail of heated air in her wake. I watched her go pester another dragon, was a bit burly in my opinion.

Sidewinder sighed and pulled his head out from under his claws. "Thank the moons that's over…" He murmured. _Wait, if there's dragons off in that direction, then is there…?_ I turned my head to the left, a swift breeze catching me in the face. There was _more_ dragons. _Who'd need this many prisoners?_ I then remembered Sidewinder describing the battle he'd stumbled into. _A war. Most of these prisoners are prisoners of war. That explains their attitude toward tourists, I guess._ Peril bothered the dragon for a short while longer, then did a rather sluggish somersault, then shot down to the floor of the arena, where there was people maintaining the place and what-not. Next to me was a red dragon, who'd covered her head with her wings. _Sleeping probably. I wonder what she's in for. Treason? Stealing? Disrespect to the wrong dragon? Endless speculations could happen until I'm told otherwise!_ "Hellooooo? Wake up. Seriously, I have almost no-one to talk to besides Side-whiner over there." A red head poked out from under the wing. "Don't you have something better to do, like creating prophecies or something?" she grumbled. I frowned. "No, mainly because I'm not a 'NightWing', whatever that is. Is that what NightWings do, create prophecies and read minds, ominous stuff like that? I certainly can't, for one." She turned to glare at me. "If you're not a NightWing, then what are you?" I actually thought for a second. _Should I tell this random person about my only advantage? Just like that? It seems a bit...dangerous._ _ **That's because it is.**_ I thought. But, it wasn't my thought, except it clearly came from my mind, with my own 'tone' of thought.

 _Who's there?_ I thought.

 _ **You, of course.**_

I shuddered.

 _Yes, but how am I asking myself questions, but answering them with the correct answer, without me originally knowing in the first place?_

 _ **I AM you. Just, you from the future. Spoooky, right? I can also make stuff levitate, if you play your cards right!**_

 _I really think that my thoughts are being sarcastic. How are you doing this anyway?_

 _ **So, it turns out when you shapeshift, any tech you're wearing bonds with that form somehow, giving a special ability that corresponds to it. I later discovered I could talk to my past selves, due to Jyn's magic and technological enhancements to the comlink. No, I'm really here. Don't reveal your bracelet's abilities. Well, not yet, at least.**_

 _Why not? It's my choice._

 _ **Trust me, I know from experience. The reason I know you won't is I'm an alternate extension of you that entered this timeline. Reveal the bracelet's true awesome powers later, when events meet their going-insane-status, and we'll have another chat.**_

 _Wait,_ I began. The voice left my mind, leaving my own thoughts revertibrating around my mind. _Eerie...So no impressing reveal._ I blinked. "Uh, I can't really trust you with that information. Sorry." She grunted. "Don't worry, It's obvious."

I froze, my back quivering. "W-what's obvious?" I coughed out. "That you're clearly not a NightWing, all high-and-mighty, better than everyone else, you know, not their attitude really. Plus, you don't have the weird star-splashes on your wings. And you're a bit too open and friendly. That's a dead giveaway." She said, cracking a smile. "What's your name, exactly?" I almost sighed in relief, bu didn't want to be _too_ revealing. "I'm uh, Shadowtalon. You?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Huh. Nightwing name though…" She paused, uncovering her head from her massive wings. She realized I asked her of her name. "Oh, my name? I'm Inferno. Pleasure to meet, I guess." she tried peering over my shoulder. "And that's 'Side-whiner', I presume?" I turned is his direction and waved. "Yeah, he's a little...harmless, to say the most. Pretty much cowardly. He was probably mistaken as an enemy soldier, so they dropped him off here." I paused. "I was traveling from a _huge_ distance with a very powerful-but-shy friend of mine, when he went off ahead while I was sleeping. He then was discovered by SkyWings and led a small one-person skirmish, wounding one, who's an accomplice of a guard called Arc. That was before I arrived, of course. I then was almost instantly tackled by Arc, My friend escaping, which then resulted where I ended up here." she nodded. "I figured. That you weren't a war captive, I mean. You don't have that soldier-y feel." I smiled. "Well someone else is almost as open as I am…"

She shuffled her wings. "Well, I'm not currently feeling like disemboweling people at this CURRENT moment. It's nice to have a reasonable person to talk to." I nodded. I was just about to introduce Sidewinder to Inferno when the arena suddenly went quiet. _They're hissing. What's that about? am I suddenly a lot more...alive, in thought? Guess I'll find out later._ I turned back to Inferno, who was watching the arena's main podium with angry intent. "They sound like cheering crowd with sore throats." I whispered, resulting in a snort of laughter. I followed Inferno's eyes back to the podium. Standing with her wings catching the light, was a large orange dragon who almost literally radiated _important_. She had gems embedded above her eyes, which I realized must be really painful to do, if it's even worth it. She sported a large breastplate, which made me wonder something; _Why is she wearing armor like it's jewellery…?_ Guards started to flank in from different positions, and behind the large dragon they rolled out a small white tree with some odd multicolored decor on- _Wait_ , I thought. That's a _dragon._ I suddenly felt some odd old rage inflame in me. "Who's that?" I asked Inferno, nodding my head in the direction of the larger bejeweled dragon. She wrinkled her snout. "Queen Scarlet. Probably the most arrogant and _dangerous_ dragon in all of Pyrrhia." I blinked rapidly. "What about that Peril? I mean, she's like a walking blast furnace. Not that you'd know what a blast furnace _is_ , mind you." She nodded slowly. "Peril's pretty much controlled by Queen Scarlet. Basically just another extension of her power of being scary."

"She's not _that_ scary. I think. Usually people who have mass executions go on that list."

She looked lost in thought, still staring at the queen of the SkyWings. "Mmh."

"Alright, new question. How'd you get here, because it obviously has something to do with Queen Scarlet." She snapped out of the foggy-eyed-thinking-look. "Wha-What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "Tragic-like backstory. Now." She flashed a small look. _Maybe anger?_

"I can't tell you," She said, looking away. "Can't trust you with that information." I glimpsed a small smile creeping across her face. "I see how it is." I grumbled, shifting into a more comfortable position. Queen Scarlet gestured to the slumbering dragon chained to the white tree. "Well?" She boomed in a voice that carried rather well. "What do you think of my new art?"

I seriously was tempted to change back to a human and unleash my wrath of incendiary grenades and bullets on Queen Scarlet and her twisted kingdom that _enjoys_ brutal killing. _No,_ I thought. _Not yet. I have to make sure Jyn's alright._ I continued to watch the arena, seeing Sidewinder cover his eyes in fear again. _Weird, Peril's not even out there._ "Aaaand that can't be good." I said aloud. The entire arena spectation began to applaud, as if this were normal. "Bring out the combatants," I flicked my gaze around. _This is really taxing for my sanity._ Peril stepped out of a tunnel, and the audience suddenly hushed, as if they weren't exactly rooting for her. At the same moment, a voice yelled out with multiple curses. "Let go of me!" The guards were carrying a SandWing to the arena, still shouting and cursing. They held his tail away from them as far as possible, clearly knowing their dangers well. They then dropped him in front of Peril, and I could even tell he was terrified, just by how he was standing, all nervous like he'd clearly run if he had the ability to. A guard stood in the center of the arena, with rather challenging tone, if I do say so myself. "After four wins," he bellowed, "Horizon the SandWing, formerly, and unwisely, a member of Blaze's army, has been challenged to a match with the queen's champion, Peril. Claws up, fire ready, fight!" _I can watch people get killed in battle, but not like this. This is, and should be, a crime._ I stared at Queen Scarlet, ignoring the _woosh_ of flames followed by a scream whenever Horizon touched Peril. _You are soooo damn lucky I haven't found Jyn yet. Because when I do, You're the first to go, kingpin._ I closed my eyes, hearing a eerie high-pitched noise after Horizon's wails ended. I opened my eyes again, seeing a more-or-less pile of ash the was once Horizon the SandWing. _I've got a feeling this means getting out of here alive is a little more urgent than before, if ever._

Peril just stood there as if nobody just got incinerated. I turned back to Inferno, who was still intently watching arena. "What just happened?" I asked, struggling to conceal to shudder wavering in my voice. She continued to stare at the arena. "He committed suicide. Lucky. Usually they get knocked back before burning to death." She looked at me, seeing my expression of horror. "What? Never seen a dragon kill themself before?" I shook my head slowly, turning back to the arena. "Well that was boring," Queen Scarlet said as she stood up, then brought her voice up an octave. "I hope some of you up there are braver than this pathetic creature." I suddenly didn't feel like waiting for Jyn anymore.

I waited until dark to think about my escape plan, when hardly anyone could acknowledge the odd white flash that happens when I use the bracelet. I mean, if I did it earlier today, I'd probably escape, if the guards couldn't follow me when I change into something small, like a robin or something and fly away. But then I'd have to lie low for a few days, and that would severely increase chances of them finding Jyn while they would be looking for me, and since nobody awesome wants that, I decided to wait until the cover of cooled darkness. I opened my eyes after pretending to fall asleep, just in case to not raise suspicion. I glanced at Sidewinder and Inferno, and seeing they were (more-or-less) in quiet slumber, changed back to human form. I began to consider my gear. _Alright, Magnum with a ton of rounds in my pack, grenades, flashlight, spare dagger since the other one is somewhere near where we entered, comlink, water bottle…_ I tried to find the small clasp that held the Shapeshifting Matrix on my arm, but either it was too dark, or it decided to disappear, because the bracelet was entirely cold and smooth, with no gaps in the chrome-like metal anywhere. I sighed, putting everything back in my pack, and the comlink back onto my ear. _Wait, Jyn had a comm too, so maybe…_ I pressed down the small button encased in rubber, causing the comm to edge closer to my ear. "Jyn. Jyn, are you there? Can you hear me, over? Hello? Come on if this is a joke, I swear i'll kill you for it, because it's not within one hundred miles of funny." I waited. _Nothing._ All I could hear was the clear resonating sound of my breathing. I groaned. _This is bad,_ I thought. _Very, very, very bad. If he's captured, who knows what they'll do to him. He could be dead. He could be trapped, injured, cold, and lonely, or maybe all four. Raaaagh, if you die, I'm going to resurrect you to kill you myself!_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Jyn's Perspective**_

It was raining. Oh, no, not where Milo was, taking his own sweet time in the good, sunny weather, oh no. I had escaped. I was, temporarily, safe. I sighed. It'd been an entire day since I saw Milo get taken by some dragons around twice the size of him, let alone SEVEN times the size of me. I after escaping into the undergrowth, I had spent the day trying to reactivate the breach, rift, portal, I don't care anymore what the proper name is, but it apparently either needs a cooldown, or I'm not going home for a long time, because nothing happened in my futile attempt to get help. I turned off my comm to save the batteries, then started up a nearby mountain for a good vantage point. I began my ascent, deep in thought. _Darn Milo, should have known he'd act all reasonable and go with those guards without a fight. I'm going to kill him._ I almost laughed at that last one. _Well, not really. I guess Cuia would be a bit agitated if his new friend were severely injured somehow._ After clumsily stumbling up a small pile of loose rocks, I cut my palm on a jagged rock, hissing at the small trickle of blood pouring out of the wound. _Well, that's what I get for not wearing my gloves._ I thought, remembering the pair of high-flexibility gloves I had packed. _But, those are for using my rifle only. They're awfully thin…_ I decided not to, thinking they'd probably get damaged. And because I can't knit. I continued, only a third of the way up the rocky slope. I shifted my rifle to my opposite shoulder a few times, after it leaving a burning ache coursing through my muscles. I then proceeded up the second quarter of the mountain, thinking about my current advantages and disadvantage. _Well, i've got a Pip-boy, my AWM (L115a's proper class), my enchanted satchel...wait, what'd I put in there again?_ I reached a small flat area below the final ridge when I could see light, miles away from the mountain. _Milo's there. Somewhere, anyway._ I pulled the loose leather satchel off my shoulder, setting it down in my lap. I pulled a small string off a button, opening the flap. I tenitavely reached my hand in, my fingers closing around a cold, cylindrical object. I pulled, and a handle began extending out. I continued tugging out the object until it fell onto the thin, wet grass, still glowing with power. _Oh, right, my scythe._ More specifically, the Death Sickle. A powerful weapon of the god of death himself, the Grim Reaper. I had killed him back in Nathan and Nate's homeworld, during a solar eclipse. I let out a low whistle. The grass beside it's blade began to wilt, turning gray and shriveling into curled shapes. It was still safe for me to hold by the shaft, I just had to make sure not to accidentally touch anyone I wanted to stay alive, or else we'd be left with a pile of bones. I emptied the rest of the enchanted satchel. I'd enchanted it, like Nate and Nathan's, to hold a large amount of objects. Out fell medical supplies, a box of granola bars, a flashlight, binoculars, a large crate of assorted ammunition, a grenade launcher, and a modified .357 magnum. I slowly was piling these back in, when then sun began setting. I finished, silently wishing I had something useful, like Crusoe's archaic gauntlet, or Jake's cool neurally operated shape-changing armor that could give him something cool, like a jetpack, or an arm cannon. Looking around, I saw the only place that was comfortable (and dry, I might add,) was a small hollow in a large pine tree at the topmost spot of the above ridge. By the time I had made it up there, it was dark, and the moons were shining bright light down on the grass flowing on the top of the- WAIT. MOONS, PLURAL. WHY THE (Word I can't say. Like, at all. It hurts my soul worse than an uncontrollable animus dragon on an irresponsible pill.) IS THERE THREE FREAKING MOONS?! This makes LITERALLY NO sense WHATSOEVER! What about the effect on the Earth's rotation?! And gravity?! And, and, and… I almost started laughing hysterically, except for the fact that I was alone, and trying not to be heard by anyone within hearing distance. _I should probably go to sleep before I concern myself with the physically impossible realm anyway,_ I thought, shaking off my confusion. I curled up in a ball in the roots of the tree and quickly fell asleep.

I was shaken awake. "Wake up, little scavenger…" I heard a deep snort of laughter following that sentence. I opened my eyes, and leapt to my feet, drawing Milo's dagger out of my folds of my robes. I was staring at a large, literally flat-faced, brown, dragon. I slowly stepped back, only to trip and fall on a thick root. "G-get back!" I yelled, scrambling off the pine-needle covered ground. His brow raised as his mouth formed what passed as an amused grin. "Hmm, you can talk! Perhaps you can help me then, strange-looking scavenger!" I continued to stumble backwards, wondering why he'd not attacked yet. Then, suddenly, he swiftly reached out and jabbed me with a large talon, pushing me on the ground, knocking the dagger out of my hand in the process. "I'm not going to hurt you, I actually need your help." he said, pinning me to the ground with a large padded foot. "Really. Like...I should believe….you." I wheezed. "Well, yes, considering I haven't killed you yet." I took that into consideration, thinking with that logic, I could very well be killed any second. "Fine...I'll-" I coughed. "-see what I can do." I finished quickly. His expression relaxed. "Very well. Come, and tell me your name, if scavengers have any proper ones, that is." He lifted his foot and slowly lumbered over to the roots of the tree I had slept under. I climbed up from the ground. After a whole lot of groaning and dusting myself off, I finally made it over to where the brown dragon was patiently waiting, sitting down among the roots peacefully. I rubbed my forehead. "So, uh….exactly what do you need of me?" I asked him in a genuinely curious tone. He stared off in the direction of the rising sun, which was casting rays of orange light through the dew in the grass. "I was separated from my traveling companion. He's not on the brave side, you see." He let out a low rumble that I realized was a chuckle. "Of all dragons, this would have to be the most harmless. He's practically scared of his own shadow." He rumbled again. "Aaaaand where is this hapless fellow of which we speak?" I asked, quickly glancing around, expecting a dragon to jump out of the bushes. He turned to me looking amused and a bit anxious and worried at the same time, like a grim smile basically. "That is what i need help with. Since you can talk to me, you must be very special, or i'm going crazy from all the worrying about him. He's a little guy, I mean. I feel really responsible for him, almost like one my own sibs." I blinked. "Sibs? That is what, exactly?" He shuffled anxiously. I smacked my forehead, answering my own question. "Ohhhh, siblings. That makes sense. But, doesn't everybody trust their brothers and sisters? I mean, I did."

I didn't mention that my sister Tarra became a brotherhood of steel paladin, and my brother Mitchell later became a high-end mercenary. I'd probably not trust either of them, due to their current job positions being too untrustworthy for me, and because we all agreed to go our separate ways the LAST time we ended up in the same place. "So, what's your name anyway? I'm Jyn, to clear at least that much up." He shuffled his wings, forcing me to retreat a few feet. "I am Rail. My friend I referred to is a SandWing named Sidewinder. I lost him after we got caught in a skirmish between Burn and Blaze's forces at a river not far from here. I wasn't captured, due to my being a MudWing. MudWings are of course, allied with Burn's forces, who were the 'victors' of the ordeal. I saw him being carried off by some SkyWing soldiers taking him prisoner." he sighed, shaking his head. "I suppose I can only hope he's not been killed yet." An idea suddenly hit like the irony of being ran over by an ambulance. Maybe Milo's being held in the same place… "I'll help you." I quickly answered. "Under one condition." I said, raising a finger. "No attacking, uh…" I broke off, trying to remember what those guards called Milo. _Ummm...Night-something...Night-fury? No, too bold. Wait, all other species of dragon i've heard of so far end in….NightWing! Right!_ "NightWings! No attacking Nightwings." I finished, sighing. He wrinkled his snout. "If you say so, I'll oblige. Unless they attack me. Then I'm killing them." he ended in a satisfactory grunt. "I'm looking for someone too. He's….more-or-less a NightWing. Really trustworthy, though." He nodded. "Good. We'll need some good trustworthy allies to get out of there in time, if we can get in, that is." I shrugged. "It could be worse, I suppose. For all I know, the whole world could end tomorrow." He shook his head. "That could never happen." He looked really sure of himself too, like it was a guarantee that the world would indeed be intact the next day. I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? How so?" He cleared his throat. "There's a prophecy that says that five dragonets from different tribes will-" "Hold up," I cut in. "What's a dragonet?" he rolled his eyes, grumbling. "A dragonet is immature dragon, who is under eight years old." I frowned. "Eight's a bit young, don't you think? Well, I guess you guys would mature faster since you're a whole lot larger after all." he let out a low growl. "Are you done? The more time we waste, the more time Queen Scarlet has to kill our friends." I nodded. "Continue." He eyed me suspiciously. "As I was saying, five dragonets from five different tribes, a MudWing, a NightWing, a SeaWing, a SkyWing, and a SandWing will end the twenty-year war between the tribes. Even so, rumor has it that Queen Scarlet has those very dragonets in her custody." I smiled. "Hmm. The plot thickens. We should rescue them too. Sure, war is a merchant's delight, but it's also a soldier's demise." He nodded. "That's priority number two, I suppose." I nodded toward the direction of the palace and the arena."Where's our stake-out position?" He grinned. "What gave you the idea we were staking out?"


	4. Chapter 4

_**Milo's Perspective**_

(Just so you all know, these ones usually take a LOT of research, A.K.A., re,re,re,re,re, rereading The Dragonet Prophecy. I hope this is somewhat satisfactory. Please remember my pain.)

"Private audience with the queen." _Wha-?_ I opened my eyes. Hovering in the air, side-by-side, were two SkyWing guards. I yawned. "Sure, but it might not be a good treatment on your sanity." They glanced at each other uneasily. I raised my talons in front of me. "Take me to your leader." They happily (more-or-less) obliged. After going down a few hallways, we arrived in some sort of grand hall, like those ones viking kings have for mead-drinking and drunk dancing, usually not in that particular order. On a large throne at the end of the room sat Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings. I took the moment to look around the room. Gold sparkled on all the walls, creating swirling pictures of the sky. _Hmm._ i thought. _They must really like living up to their name, even going so far to put themselves above others. Heh._ The colorful dragon on the thin chain slept in it's white tree in the sunlight peacefully. Three different-colored dragons about my size were waiting in front of her, one brown, one a like, sapphire blue shade? And one black, like me, except darker, and had little sparkling constellations on his wings. I silently took into consideration that racism is probably the least of my worries. "Finally! If you'd just had brought that other NightWing the first time around, we wouldn't have to wait so long!" Queen Scarlet yelled after the slowly backing-up guards. She exhaled deeply, staring down at the other dragons, as I kept relatively good distance away from them. "As I was saying, Not everyone thinks ending the war is all too important. I pick up lots of contenders for my arena from the battlefield. And it's a terrific distraction for those dragons who might otherwise have challenged me for the throne. No one's even tried in about eight or nine years. Saves me a lot of trouble."

 _She's nuts,_ I thought. _She uses some weird gladiator-fetish of hers to distract people from the traditional change-of-command. HOW DIABOLICAl._ "So it's alright with you that hundreds of dragons have died across the world," Spat the blue dragon, literally bristling with hostility. The orange SkyWing gave the dragon a pitying look. "As if you know anything about that. Have you ever been in a real battle? Have you ever seen hundreds of dragons die? Do you know anything, really, about this war?" That shut her up real fast. "We've studied it," came the fierce reply. "We know it's awful. We know innocent dragons are getting hurt." I finally did something. I began clapping. Everybody suddenly turned to me with looks of confusion. I stopped. "What kind of rebuttal was that? It's obvious that innocent people are dying in war, it's literally what war is." I said, pointing at the blue dragon. "And people die all over the world all the time. Just, around a thousand more during a full-scale war." She shot an infuriated glare at me. "You're siding WITH HER?" I laughed. "Me. Side with Bejeweled Deluxe over there? HAH. No. Just with the point she made. I'd never sign up with anyone who thought I was something that I'm not," I said, extending my wings to show no star-like scales. "Hmm. Yes, a small oversight, but I can make it work. A NightWing with no star-scales under his wings. Yes, your body would be a perfect gift to Burn," A shocked tremor of fear and dread cascaded through my bones. She looked a the other dragons as she spoke. "As will your odd-looking SandWing. You see, she collects curiosities. It's quite horrifying, full of two-headed lizards and seven-toed dragon talons and stuffed scavengers with the palest skin you ever saw." A gasp escaped from the large brown dragon. She turned to me. "You would both make the perfect gift for her." I snorted in amusement. "Sure, after I die. Which here's a guarantee for you, 'cause after I'm going to hit you so hard, not even Geico and Life-alert combined could save you from the storm that is me." I sat down defiantly, despite all of the odd looks it achieved. Their conversation continued as if I'd never existed. _Fine, be that way._ I thought. _To heck with this ordeal. I could very well take on any of them. I think. Ok, probably not. I'd be destroyed. I could try to help them….But at what price? There could be dimensions of this realm where this has all turned out perfect, and because I showed up, anything could happen. For all I know, everybody I've seen so far could have some important use in the future. '_ _ **Pretty much.'**_

 _You. Why are you deciding to bother me with showing up here? '_ _ **Because...uh...I forgot, really. Oh, wait. Um, so remember what that robot-ish looking guy….Uh, Sparkwire? Anyways, what he was saying to Cuia? The whole, 'Alternate dimensions of alternate realms' theory? Well, as it turns out, Crusoe would probably help out the most in this instance, if you can get him here.'**_ _Crusoe. The guy who asked for help with some cloaking tech in Cuia's ship? That guy? Come on, he can't really- '_ _ **I know. He's an avid book reader though.'**_ _He's going to bring Terri though…. '_ _ **And? She'd also be a good help, though I'm not allowed to tell what power she contains. It'd rupture the current of events in this timeline drastically.'**_ _Since when can I see the course of timelines? And Terri's crazy. At least, I think. '_ _ **Not really. She's actually better with weapons than Cuia is, he's just good at improvising.'**_ _Huh. And being charismatic, I suppose. He's really the only reason I'm here. Why do you bother helping me anyways?_ ' _ **Because you might be the only hope of our survival.'**_ _Was that a legitimate or sarcastic answer?_ ' _ **Would we say something like that sarcastically?'**_

 _Yes._ ' _ **Mmh. Fair point. I'm stuck, you see. And it's your actions in this world that determine whether we get stuck here or not.'**_ _Troubling. Well, I suppose you shouldn't leave. Stay here. I really need a conscience, since I left my real one in my other pants. '_ _ **Indeed. Sure, I got nothing else to do.'**_ _Good, because I have a feeli-_

I was snapped out of thought, as I could tell the argument had somewhat escalated.

"You're delusional." The blue dragon was saying. "I beat you all the time. I'm the strongest of all of us." _Are they fighting each other? Or am I just facing the consequences of not paying more careful attention to their conversation?_ I let that sink in my head for a second. _Will I have to fight any of them? I'd prefer not to, seeing that I'm not really as adept in this shape...aaaand the fact that I'd probably die faster if I was a human during the fight anyway…_ The words, "Guards, take these three away." shattered my thinking process once again. The guards obliged, despite the blue dragon's roars and bouts of physical contact. "That's stupid. You're just going to go ahead and continue as if this never happened? HAH! Oh killing you is SO on my to-do list!" I exploded. She waved her tail dismissively. "Don't give this one any food for today, may I add." I quieted down, then lowered my voice to an eerie deepness that even I wondered how it dropped so low. "Sometimes it's best to just walk away." I said. I was escorted out with the prize of the memory of how shocked she had looked for that short moment. And I promised myself to make it last longer the next time.

After settling down on the stone pillar once again, I began to watch as the fight unfolded below. I turned to Inferno. "What's happened so far?" I asked. "Well, the fight so far has been an IceWing named Fjord, or something like that. Against him is some MudWing dragonet named Clay from the Talons Of Peace." I shook my head. "No, not the poster details, the most possible winning outcome." She continued staring at the two dragons facing off below. "Probably Fjord. He has four wins compared to the MudWing's zero."

"Mmh."

 _Know anything about this dragonet in particular? By the way, what does dragonet mean?_ _ **Yes, he's extremely vital to your escape. Or, one of the possible outcomes really. And to answer your last question, A dragonet is an immature dragon.**_ _Oh. So, if he dies, I'm screwed._ _ **Theoretically.**_ _Fantastic. How do we ensure that he lives then?_ _ **Honestly, I don't really know…**_ _If you gave me a good plan, i would have probably said something like, 'That's crazy! How are you not in solitary?' But, since you've only been nonproductive this entire time, I'll just say congratulations. On being the first conscience that can't think of an escape plan._ _**Oh please, I doubt you could come close to 'better'.**_ _Actually, I probably can._ _ **The techs Jyn's**_ _**alright? It's really buggy, especially in the climate I'm in.**_ _Where are you, er, WE anyways?_ _ **Let's just say it's somewhere very very cold…**_ _Sounds like a vacation of a thousand lifetimes, Captain Rogers._ A voice suddenly buzzed in my ear. "Milo. Milo, this is Jyn. If you're there _please_ say something." _Jyn!_ _ **Huh, the comm still works like normal.**_ "Something." I whispered aloud. A sigh of relief echoed in my ear. "Milo, you're in so much trouble when I find you…" I chuckled. "Well, I'm afraid I'm in a club you can't get in." A pause… "It'd better not be the Mile-high club…" I actually laughed this time, earning a incredulous look from Inferno. 'Later.' I mouthed. She nodded, looking back down to the arena. "Just about." I said, looking off the edge of the pillar. "Alright. I'm in the palace."

"WHAT?!" I yelled. "Sheesh, calm down. I'm using my stealth boy, so nobody can see me that easily. I doubt they would suspect even if they saw the reflection effects." He reassured me. "Oh. Well, I'm in between a SandWing and a SkyWing up here if that narrows it down by much." I said. "Sure, I'm making my way to a window right now." I heard him answer. "How'd you get this close? I mean, the battery would have died before you got there if you were using it the entire time...did you get inside help or something?"

"Something like that. Yeah. Uh, so he's a 'MudWing', if i'm saying it right. And his name's Rail? I'm helping him look for someone. Do you know anyone named Sidewinder?"

"Erm, yes. He's not exactly much for self-esteem, I'll give him that." I glanced at the shivering SandWing, who was covering his eyes in his talons.

"Huh. Alright, I see you. Wait, lemme try something, hold on."

A reflective glare flashed out of a window on the place walls, hitting my eyes. "Ow, yep I see it."

I said, shielding my eyes with my tail. "Good. I'll be in touch."

"Fantastic. Make sure to contact Crusoe, by the way."

"Why? His gauntlet? Terri?"

"No! He has a certain level of…. _expertise_ in this field, or so I'm told."

"Oh. I'll make sure to contact him then."

"Good. He can do the stealth stuff, instead of you too."

"Right, the cloaking armor. I'll get him. Just make sur-" Suddenly, a large cheer erupted from the crowd, cutting off the last part of his sentence. A clicking sound echoed in my ear, then Jyn said no more. I sighed. Though, I was a bit surprised at what had occured in the arena. Fjord was doubled-over, bleeding blue blood that looked a lot like car antifreeze, and Clay was primarily untouched, aside from the minor cryogenic liquid-nitrogen damaged area on his wing. "What is wrong with you?" Fjord was shrieking at Clay. "This isn't how MudWings fight! I was trained in your techniques!" Clay was still crouched low to the ground, as if he were about to launch himself at him. "Well, I wasn't. Sorry." He said, his voice with a small apologetic tint. Fjord continued to clutch his underbelly, still gushing out blood from the deep wound. _KILL HIM! Wait, why am I suddenly turned into a mindless spectator... KILL HIM ANYWAYS!_ _ **He's really not that kind of dragon.**_ _What kind is he then?_ _ **Among everybody in this continent, his personality type is pretty rare moreso a 'friendly over hostile' kind of guy.**_ _Huh. So, 'Accidental Hero' category?_ _ **More or less. He's pretty cool, if you get to know him. He's like um….Bryce.**_ _Don't you DARE bring that game into this._ _ **Fine….Did you pick Lorem or Adine?**_

 _SHUT UP._ _ **Alright, alright. Gosh. You're worse than Maverick…**_ _I am going to suck out your eyeballs through a straw…_ _**That is something so terrifying only I could come up with- Oh right.**_ "All right, dragons." Queen Scarlet boomed, cutting through the rumbling crowd. "Fjord and Clay, we don't have all day. Some of us have kingdoms to run. One of you kill the other one or I'll come down there and kill you both myself." _Sudden death mode activated. Huh._ Fjord blasted forward, snarling. Clay then grabbed his odd spiny-looking horns, Neck spikes? Random head-spires? Ice-cream cone head-parts? I don't know anymore… Anyways, He then held Fjord's head away from him as Fjord began blasting ice out with the force of a nitrogen cannon. Oh, right. Liquid nitrogen. I'm an idiot. The IceWing's cryogenic spin-off of fire blasted into the first row of seats, scattering terrified spectators. _**I suppose this is the only time I can say this...Ahem. 'ENEMY JUGGERNAUT HAS GONE ELEMENTAL!'**_ _I don't know who you are, but I will find you, and shove you under a bus._ Fjord and Clay began grappling in the sand, coming out with Fjord on top. _Oh crap._ I glanced down at my bracelet. _**Don't.**_ _Fjord's going to kill him!_ As if on cue, Fjord began charging up his ice-breath. "Time to die." he hissed. _Actually, it's four-thirty...We have to do SOMETHING!_ _ **No! The same thing happened in my timeline, just wait!**_ I reached for my bracelet, my claws just beginning to brush against the cold, reflective metal. A yell sounded across the arena, but it wasn't from the crowd. The blue dragon from earlier had jumped of her platform and was now dangling above open air. _**Huh, what do you know, Tsunami still jumps like a suicidal maniac in this timeline. I'm starting to get nervous at all these resemblances…**_ _So she's called Tsunami...Like the crazy destructive ocean storm. Whoever picked her name was either freakishly perceptive, or could see the future, because if that name isn't fitting, I don't know what is._ _ **You wouldn't say that if you knew him.**_ _How do you know? Well, I guess you do, but that's not the point. I still have a slightly different perspective than you. You're a lot more...cautious._ _**How perceptive.**_ _Why thank you._ "Get up there!" Queen Scarlet roared, sending all of the guards surrounding her blasting off in unison. I looked back down at Clay and Fjord. Now there was little black spots covering that weird scar on his neck… He then began to scream.


	5. Chapter 5

**Jyn's Perspective, Pt.2**

I heard screams. Screams of pain, not terror or rage. Someone was suffering. I pulled up my Pip-boy, looking under the 'Local map' tab. _Alright, the way out should be right around here…_ I rounded the corner to come face-to-face with a glaring dragon. I jumped back in surprise, frantically flinging Milo's knife at it. The knife impaled the statue's forehead, shattering the marble head apart. _I'm such a nervous wreck. I'm just lucky there's nobody in here to panic that knives are flying out of thin air._ I retrieved the knife and made out the front gates unseen. Rail was in the audience, blending in until he had his chance to rescue him after I pointed Sidewinder out. I have other plans though. _It's time to get some real people who can actually handle this._ After around three hours of walking, i made it back to where me and Milo had first dropped in. _There would at least be some kind of thing with enough energy to conduct that kind of power, though. Portals don't just loosely appear, they need some kind of extreme energy source to…_ I turned around to look at a massive tree, bigger than any Sequoia I've ever seen recorded. _That isn't the answer. It's too easy...Aw, to hell with it all._ I sat down at the base of the tree. I reached for the comlink in my ear, pulling the light rubber off my soft cartilage. _Alright, this preset is for speaking to Milo anywhere from a one hundred mile radius, and this one is linked directly to the ship._ I pressed the second rubbed button embedded in the comlink. I then slipped it back around my ear, breathing excitedly. "Crusoe, can you hear me? Hello?" A slightly deep voice replied back. "Uh, Crusoe's not here right now Jyn, so please take a message. BEEP!" The last part of that was him mimicking an answering machine at the top of his lungs. "Crusoe, the answering machine doesn't know my name." I reminded him. "Crap. I really thought I got it that time. What's up?" I explained everything, starting with the invisible incident back at the portal. He took a deep excited breath into the microphone. "You will not regret this." He sound really happy, like going to a world full of dragons was a dream come true, which was probably the closest explanation. "I'll be there as fast as I can! I'm bringing Jake, so you won't be lonely, okay?" I nodded, then remembered we were in an audio-only conversation. "Yeah." I choked out. "Alright, buh-byyeee!" he then turned off his connection, giving my a click before the audio went silent. I sighed. Getting up, I got a weird feeling in my gut. Like something wasn't right… I began looking around. _Hmm.. twigs, my tennis shoe prints, Milo's prints, leaves, leaves, ant, rock, discarded laser sight, rock, twig, leaves, Hmm must have been-AHA!_ I picked up the laser sight, flicking the _on_ switch. _Dead, of course._ I startling realization hit me, sending tremors of fear under my skin. _Someone followed us. If they have weapons from earth, and are discarding valuable addons like they have plenty of them, we might have a slight problem...Ok, not even slight. It's definitely time to freak out._ I kicked in V.A.T.S. to check if there was any enemies within firing range. I flicked the selection around. It finally landed on a hooded figure crouched in the bushes to my left. _Who could that be?_ "Uh, hello?" the figure froze, looking in my direction. "Who are you?" I asked. The stranger ignored me, then reached down into the bushes and pulled up a black compound bow. "Oh. That's cool. Um, how long have you been watching me?" I asked. He still didn't answer, putting the steel bow over his shoulder. _Wait,_ I thought. _Nobody here would have a compound bow here. Not even dragons._

 _I've got a baaad feeling about this…_ I started backing away. "You know, I'm fine. I need to go find someone anyways. Uh, bye!" I started to walk away. _Don'tlookbackdon'tlookbackdon'tlookback…_ He didn't seem to follow me after I had walked for a while, so I stopped. _I better leave the area of a five-mile radius while I still can… It's getting pretty dark… I should find some kind of shelter._ The sun had officially abandoned me. _Praise the sun? Hah. Here comes the dawn, sucker._ I resumed walking, then stopped again, as I heard a weird sound, like something being struck. Pain suddenly lanced up my leg as an arrow sprouted through my left hamstring, the black broadhead glistening with my own blood. I gasped, dropping to the ground and clutching the arrow. I exhaled through my gritted teeth. It REALLY HURT. It felt like someone was trying to fit a hot wire through the inside of my leg, then back through again. I broke off the tip, then pulled the rest of the shaft through the other side where it had entered. "Gah! Where the hell are you?!" I ripped off part of my sleeve, then started wrapping it around my leg until I realized the wound was infected already. _That doesn't make any sense! I'm going to kill that guy.._ I finished wrapping the wound, then pulled out my scythe and willed my Spectre wings to appear. The ghostly feathers glittered on my back, still translucent. So, to make this not seem any weirder than it already is, the whole 'wings' thing was the result of a failed experiment with souls of flight from Nathan and Nick's home realm. We were messing around, testing different materials to see the elements exaggerated reactions, and laughing and having fun, you know, normal stuff. Then we tested something we'd not tried yet; Ectoplasm. This stuff was hard to get, coming from lost souls in the dungeon not far from Nathan's shack. Yes, shack. It was small, with a tunnel underneath that went pretty much anywhere. ANYWAYS, the ectoplasm EXPLODED, shattering priceless materials, and expelling particles of them mixed with souls of flight. So, I received most of the ectoplasm, so 'Spectre wings.' Nathan was hit with dust from a Fire Feather from hell, so he got fire wings, and Nick was provided with leaf wings, which are almost alive, they flex and 'breath' and it's super creepy. Yeah. It's weird. I never really expected ectoplasm to explode, but then again, magical stuff is unpredictable. The wings I have come out at will, while Nathan's only work when he's using his combustion magic. Nick's have to be there at all times, being physically existent and all. AAAANYWAY….

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I yelled into the shadows. My wings were glowing super-bright now, burning off my adrenaline. "WHAT...DID I...EVER DO TO YOU!?" I screamed.

I swung my scythe in a quick horizontal arc, cleaving a nearby tree in half, as well as sending a purple scythe-shaped beam of light spiraling into the night. The weird striking sound resonated behind me, closer than last time. I spun around, swinging the scythe with my momentum and shearing the arrow clean in half. I pointed the end of the scythe at the hooded stranger, who was lowering his black metal bow. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't dice you up like a tomato." I fumed. He began to chuckle. It was really creepy too, like someone dragging a steel plow on asphalt. "I am Plague," he slung the bow over his back. "Or, as I'm professionally known as, Pestilence." _Pestilence….DAMN IT. He's one of the alternate horsemen of the Apocalypse...I saw him die though...How?_ I tried to put on a mask of confidence over my voice, but it came out more like I was scared anyways. "Y-you're dead. I saw you die. There's just no way…" I trailed off. He chuckled again, making me shiver. He stepped closer to me, into the light of my wings. Black beady eyes reflected out from under his leather hood, like a cockroach's. "I know very well who you are, as well as your key role in Death's temporary demise." He tapped the handle of the Death-Sickle. (Lol, I'm typing this in school, and my youtube mix just turned on the duel soundtrack from Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith…) I leveled it toward his face. "Why were you shooting me? I should slice you in half for that, but I still have more questions." He leaned in close to my head. "Because you have something that I want." he hissed in my ear. He struck my right hand, knocking the scythe to the soft forest floor, then grabbed me. Black smoke curled off his robes, dancing onto my shoulders. "WHAT!?" My strength quickly dropped and my vision started fading in and out. "You...bastard…" He grinned from under his hood, his blackened teeth glinting dully in the flickering light of my wing's dying light. "Hey now. No swearing. You were raised better, and I know it." A voice laughed behind Plague. "And no talking to strangers. Especially this guy." Plague looked as surprised as I was, his dark eyes darting around quickly. "Whuff!" He suddenly crumpled, like an invisible train had just derailed and flattened him. "Heh. And STAY DOWN." I gasped, pulling air into my lungs as fast as I could. "How….did he do...that…" I wheezed, sitting down and clutching my knees close to my chest. "Uh, yeah. Who is this guy, anyways?" Crusoe said, shimmering into existence. _Looks like the cloaking armor works decently well._ Terri ran out of the shadows, almost tripping over me. "Aw, you already beat him. No fair…" she twirled her spear, sheathing it across her back. Crusoe slowly held up his gauntleted hand, staring at it intently. "Yeah..I guess so…" he murmured slowly. "Thanks for the save," I blurted, undoing the wrappings on my leg that were now soaked in blood. He nodded slowly, looking up from his gauntlet. "Yeah. We probably would have never found you if you weren't yelling at this guy-" Plague had vanished. "Aw, come on." he groaned. I chuckled. "What do you think about this?" I asked him, pointing at my infected wound. "A cut? Oh that's easy. Lemme look at it. It's probably not-" I lifted the last bandage. He hissed slowly through his teeth. "I stand corrected. How'd it get this infected, so quickly, at that?" I shrugged. "Well, he said he was the 'Plague' but I'm pretty sure that was Pestilence, the new form of Famine. The original Famine was killed, but as you could guess, he wasn't eradicated as easily as Death."

"So these guys run around as gods of Death and sickness and stuff?" Terri asked. I shifted my leg. "Well, yeah." she shuddered, ruffling her red feathers. "Creepy…."

Crusoe sighed. "This is worthy of the gauntlet. Here, hold out your leg." He pointed his palm at my leg as pale yellow-green energy poured out, destroying the dead infected flesh and replacing it with the new, then finishing by my skin sealing over the new flesh. "There," he gasped, a bead of sweat slowly inching down his forehead. "Thanks. I needed that." He glanced around. "JAKE!? Where is that lunk-head…" He burst out of the foliage, breathing heavily. "Oh. There you are." Crusoe said. "You guys...can't just run off...like that…" he barely coughed out, gasping for air. "This armor is soooo heavy…"

I cracked a smile. "Well, we're gonna need it. We're going castle crashing."

Crusoe pumped his arm in the air. "Yeah! Dibs on the red knight!"

"That's not exactly...well...I guess that's sort-of related to this…"

Crusoe paused, looking as if he were suddenly remembering something. He scratched his chin. "So you guys have been here for around...two days, right?" I nodded. He nodded back in acknowledgement. "So tomorrow would be...Kestrel's trial…" He frowned. "We could probably break in later tomorrow night, when the party is staged…" _How would he know all of this?_ "How exactly do you know all this?" I asked, adding a suspicious tinge to my voice. He frowned. "I read it." He paused. "You never did, did you? You chose a random location, just expecting it to be safe. Hah. You probably chose the most dangerous place to be, because here they eat people like you and me for breakfast." He paused again, scratching his head and looking up at the darkened night sky as fog began to roll in. "Unless, my theory's correct and we're larger than the pygmy inhabitants…" Terri folded her arms, shivering slightly. "How does ANYONE live in this weather? It's soooo cold!" Crusoe shrugged, lighting his gauntlet on fire without touching the corresponding stone. "It's telekinetic now?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, I just have to think of what power I want it to use, and it does it. Aaand," He pulled the glove off his left hand and pulled up his sleeve. "-apparently it spreads to the other hand, too." His forearm had three long black metal strips along them, beginning to mimic the opposing gauntlet's design. I smiled weakly, patting his shoulder. "Well, at least you have a temporary bracer. That'll come in handy." he nodded with a thin frown. "Yeah. Sure. Um, care to tell us what that guy said to you?" I quickly explained the encounter with Plague, highlighting the part where he said that Death was, 'temporarily' defeated. Jake's visored eyeholes in his helmet glowed a gleaming cyan, with small ripples of static across the glass. He imitated a western accent, because he likes to be a jerk... "This ain't good. If good ol' Grim Reaper's back in business, I'd wager a shipment from the New Dawn sector that'd he'd not pass up the opportunity of vengeance so lightly. I'd be pretty ticked." He turned to me, his white armor covered in condensation from the fog. "Besides, you know how it feels, dontcha Jyn? I heard back where you came from, some real fancy guy shot ya in the head, believin you'd died n' all. Then you walks into his casino, all shiny and new, worrying im so bad he done skipped town an' got himself arrested." I nodded my head, trying not to laugh at his fake accent. "Aye, Benny was a pretty touchy bastard, I'll give him that." Jake unslung his KSG. "Sensors detect movement. Advancing position." Jake marched off into the trees. _What? Maybe it's whoever dropped the laser sight._ Jake came back five minutes later, herding a man dressed in a maroon coat, large olive green tactical backpack, blue jeans, a .243 bolt action slung on his shoulder and a short broad skinning knife attached to his belt. "Uh, hi." he said nervously as Jake prodded him with the end of the shotgun. "Yeesh, you guys are so SERIOUS. Cheer up, will you?" I shook my head. "I'm asking the questions here." He frowned, wiping his brow. "Okay…?"

"When did you get here?"

"Um, around the same time these guys did, just five minutes later."

"Did anyone else come with you?"

He shook his head quickly.

"Were you carrying a laser sight?"

He laughed. "No, I can't afford any. If I had the money, I'd probably waste it on something cool-looking, and in that case," He whipped out a small black handle from his pocket. A Japanese Katana handle, more specifically. Seconds later, a long white blade shot out, completing the sword.

"I did."

I tried not to look as impressed and jealous as Crusoe was, staring at the glowing white blade with an envious look on his face. "Um, cool. So, you just entered the portal after Crusoe, Terri, and Jake? Hmm." I scratched my arm. "Why did you decide to come here of all places?"

He looked slightly amused, staring off into this distance. "Well, I went here because, heh.. I read about it and figured, 'Hey, that's pretty neat. I know a few people who'd kill for an opportunity like this, and I'm not losing what could possibly be my last and only chance to do something fun' and then, 'But what if someone follows me?' then, 'ah, what the hell.' exactly like that." He finished, smiling. I kicked the grass, scattering pine needles everywhere. "Who are you?"

He laughed. "Wouldn't that have been the first question to ask?" I shrugged. "I'm Leighton. You can call me anything you want, really. I'm fine." He said, gesturing to himself. "Wanderer, explorer, general high emperor of annoying people, etc. May I join you?"


	6. Chapter 6

_**Milo's Perspective, pt.2**_

(Honestly, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jyn's parts are a whole lot more fun to make...I wish italics and emboldenings worked on Amino…)

So I'm bored now. It's really dark, and I feel like screaming the only song I know all the lyrics to (Fallout 4 rap) out loud till someone shuts me up with a baseball bat. I sighed. Doing nothing was boring. _Jyn's probably having more fun than me anyways…_ I felt extra lonely. _I wonder what Jyn's doing right now anyways._ I looked down at my bracelet. _What's the point of this thing if I can't use it? I mean, it's cool and all, but I never get any chance to use it without the threat of death? It's stupid. I'm getting sick of being the 'dude in distress'. I could literally change back, shoot the chains off everyone that'd be important to keep alive for the distant future, and run like hell was behind me and giving a good chase. It's not that hard. '_ _ **Yes, well there is the issue of-'**_ _Of what? My sudden urge to disobey everything you say?_

' _ **Erm…'**_

 _You can't really monitor timelines, can you?_

Sudden silence.

 _You've just been lying to me the whole time, haven't you?! What if I was placed into immeasurable danger, and you send me into the thing that kills me?_

' _ **Incorrect. I'm not trying to kill you.'**_

 _Then who are you trying to kill?_

' _ **Crusoe and Jyn.'**_

 _WHAT!?_

' _ **Yes.'**_

 _THAT IS IT. I'M SEVERING THE COMM THE FIRST CHANCE I GET, YOU CONNIVING SNAKE-LIKE BASTARD._

' _ **I actually saw this coming…'**_

 _YOU ARE A FREAKING PAIN IN THE-_

' _ **Swearing changes nothing.'**_

 _Then explain yourself, and why I shouldn't rip out this comm right now._

' _ **Crusoe and Jyn are why I'm in this mess, just because I joined Darkstalker. We had begun working together, with the possibility of expanding to other realms.'**_

 _Okay.. This doesn't sound so bad… I probably would have some better judgement on this topic if I knew who 'Dark-Stalker' is._

' _ **You'll find out all in good time.'**_

 _Yeah, sure...continue._

' _ **A group of dragonet students then foiled him, and he disappeared out of the blue, no trace of him except the memory that he was here. Like he never existed. '**_

 _Still don't see a reason for killing Jyn and Crusoe…_

' _ **I then decided to continue where he left off, and take over other realms in his name.'**_

 _Oh. Now I see why. You were a complete and utter jerk._

' _ **I was proceeding in the name of Conquest.'**_

 _Why did you say that like it's a name?_

' _ **Because it is.'**_

 _That's it. You're gone._

I glanced around quickly, then transformed into human form, tore out the comlink, than switched back to a dragon using the preset buttons.

 _And now everything is silent once again._

 _Ahhh… Silence. Sweet, sweet silence. Silence, and sleep!_ I stared up at the moons. _Huh, enough moons I guess could kinda alter gravity significantly enough to allow flight. It also would explain why people are crazier than usual, being that there's more full moons than back on Earth….hah. If it still existed back home... I feel like throwing something. Or someONE._

I sighed. _I wonder what Cuia's doing…_ I slowly fell asleep.

 _ **Cuia's Perspective**_

 _ **2 Hrs. earlier...**_

"One hour. They couldn't go a single fucking HOUR without doing something completely irrational and dangerous that could alter reality?" Nathan shouted at Crusoe through the radio. I was sitting the pilot's chair, snoring at the time. "Jyn's a freaking idiot. I don't care if he says Milo's in-" he broke off. "Oh. Well that's fucked up. Alright then. No. No I said." he paused, exhaling loudly. "Huahhh, fine. Just this once. No, you can't go back. Once Milo and Jyn are safe, come straight here. Nathan, out." he slammed the receiver down. "God fucking damnit…" he hissed under his breath. He stormed into the cockpit, small flames dancing down his sleeves. I tipped up my hat, grinning. "So, the fellowship's broken, huh?" He glared at me. "I don't get it. Can't they just do the sensible thing and take one fucking thing at a time instead of running off into Narnia or something? GAWD." he slouched down in the chair next to me. "Tough. Hey, who are we talking about anyways?" I asked absently. He groaned, explaining Milo and Jyn's crazy escapade so far. I blinked, nodding. "So, Milo and Jyn went off to magical-dragon-land and totally left us behind without any communication and Milo got himself captured?" Nathan dipped his head slightly. "And now Crusoe, Terri, and Jake are all going to go there, mainly because Crusoe read everything in some books so now he could almost literally predict events if he wanted to?" Nathan dipped his head again. I sighed. "Damnit. I really was looking forward to having Milo with us to find the Hylotl artefact. Huh. Bummer." I sat there a minute, literally staring off into space through the cockpit glass. "So, you know how to play poker?" I asked him, cracking a smile. He nodded. "Alright, yeah, I do. What's the wager?" I spread my feathered arms out wide and grinned. "If I win, we go and help Crusoe like 'Unsensible people'. If you win…" I pointed in the direction of the weapons room. "You can have whatever you like out of that room there." He popped his neck side to side. "You're on."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Jyn's Perspective, Pt.3**_

 _ **The next morning…**_

"I still don't get it. How was all this written in some book?" Jake was asking Crusoe, tapping the white metal plating on his thigh rhythmically. We had started walking in the direction of the palace an hour ago, when Crusoe began describing everything that was going to happen, if Milo hasn't triggered a unseen event yet… Crusoe swung his sword around in circles, pointing in the direction of the palace.

"I dunno, Jake. If we are where I THINK we are, the palace should be in that general direction!" he turned around with a mad grin. Yep, He's definitely living a dream. That could come in handy, knowing everything that's going to happen. I pulled up my Pip-boy. "Yeah, I've got a map right here." I scrolled around the map, looking for all the borders. Yeesh, this place is HUGE. "Uh, why is the entire continent in the shape of a dragon?" asked Terri, peering over my shoulder. "You're creepy, you know that?" I said skeptically.

She backed away. "I don't think so. I think I'm really nice. Not creepy." she said reassuringly. I lowered my wrist. "Uh-huh." She folded her arms and tilted her head sideways, but said nothing. I turned away. Crusoe was busy explaining to Jake what could happen next and what could go wrong if we altered it.

"-And if we intercept then, Glory might not have the chance to hit Queen Scarlet with venom." Jake nodded. "Yes, but if this dragon is as adept as you're saying, she would use our arrival as a perfect temporary distraction. It's honestly a 50-50." Crusoe frowned, folding his arms.

"More like 70-30."

I sighed. "Well, we could never know unless it happens." Crusoe spun around to face me, his face slightly worried. "But, that would mean we couldn't fix it…"

He let his arms hang loose at his sides.

"Something like that could be a butterfly effect. Like, if Glory DOESN'T shoot Queen Scarlet, she would remain queen, leaving Ruby-well, not really, but anyways, not being queen and not releasing all the prisoners kept there that are currently still alive. AND it would mean there'd be an extra bounty on them." I shoved my hands in my pockets.

"One MORE bounty?"

He nodded. "After this, everybody's wary of their danger.I mean, none of the SandWing heirs don't exactly want to be one of the 'two who die." More So the "One who learns. And if she bows to a force stronger and higher, she'll have the 'wings of fire'",yadda yadda ya. Which honestly has a darker meaning than you would like to know. Damned NightWings…" That was pretty specific and detailed. Nice to see someone is actually concerned around here. (That was pointed at you, Terri!) "You worry too much." Jake said, spreading his palms. "Besides, if she doesn't take the shot, Jyn can." he hesitated, turning toward me. "I mean, if you want to."

"Uh, yeah, s-sure." I replied sheepishly. I really dislike killing people. It's a weird feeling, taking the life of another. I mean, when you think about it, you just erased an entire future of possibilities with a single shot. And it's all YOUR fault. You just killed someone, who could possibly just be defending themselves or trying to support a family. It's a dark feeling people rarely find a way to live with. And apparently fate has a sense of humor, because so far, all my companions can kill and kill and know they'll die someday and not give a single care. And I'm the only one still hesitant to kill. I want to kill with no remorse. But lo and behold, I can't seem to grasp killing without anger or a good reason behind it. And did I forget to mention I'm the guy with the freaking SNIPER RIFLE.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." he reminded me.

"Yeah, sure…" I mumbled. We continued walking for another half-an hour before Crusoe stopped us. "If I'm right, which I usually am, they'll be scouting out this forest for about a mile in. This position should be safe enough for us to camp in for the night, so get comfortable." Leighton had been unusually quiet the whole time, so when he spoke up, I nearly jumped in surprise. "This is chummy and all, but I'm not waiting for us to be caught in our sleep." he growled. "You can have a picnic if you want, but the day's barely started. I'm getting some good distance to the palace, then I'll figure it out from there." He brushed aside some branches, about to walk off into the pines. "Wait." I called. He turned around expectantly. I dug out the gun I'd shot Milo with earlier at the gateway. "You'll need a shot. I know, it sounds dumb. But you'll never be able to talk your way out of a problem if nobody can understand you." He walked over and gingerly grabbed the gun. "Okay then.." he pulled the trigger and then fell quickly to the ground, spasming. "Oh, right. It does... _that._ " Crusoe looked terrified. "Uh, what'd you just do?" I bent over and picked up the gun, bouncing it in my palm checking the weight. _Huh, around four shots left…_ Jake instantly recognized the gun, since he's been shot with it. He raised his palms up in front of him, backing away nervously. "Jyn…" He said cautiously. I spun it around on my index finger. "Relax, I got most of the kinks out… Most of them." Leighton got up from the ground, clutching his head. "Gah. Warn me next time, please…" Crusoe and Terri both began backing away. "Come on, we don't really have to do this, do we?" Crusoe nervously asked. I put the gun at my hip. "Sure we do. Unless all you want to do is let me translate the entire time, which'll be pretty annoying for the both of us. Mostly you though." His chest heaved slightly. "Alright. Fine. Just make it quick." I held down the top of the small gun and squeezed the trigger twice, shooting both Crusoe and Terri. They got up moments later. Crusoe brushed himself off. "Well that was… Interesting." he finally said. I nodded, putting the gun in my pack. "Milo didn't like it much either." Crusoe gave me an amused smile. "I bet he didn't do much better than we did." I shook my head, smiling. "No. Mostly yelling at me and asking if he could shoot me."

He nodded. "I really think Terri didn't fare too much with it either." Terri was behind him sitting on a fallen log, carefully picking small pine needles out of her red feathers. She looked up and glared slightly. I looked away from her, coughing down a laugh. "Yeah." I turned around. "Hey-" and Leighton had already left. "Well that's fantastic. Now we got some guy running around with a gun in a world lacking them. Just PERFECT. Why don't we invite the Covenant for a picnic while we're at it?" He yelled, throwing his arms in the air. I patted his metallic shoulder. "He'll be fine." I left my hand sitting there as I thought, until he brushed it off. "For the people who try killing him, I'm not too sure. I guess it would depend on their muscle mass, as well as scale thickness if they're a dragon." I finished, fiddling with a small string loose from my torn sleeve. Crusoe readjusted his gun across his chest. "Well, are we going after him or what?" his hand slowly drifted up to his ear. "Yeah, update Cuia if you want to, but we're going to stop him before he makes us lose our only chance of stealth." I said, nodding toward his ear. His hand froze as his eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, yeah, s-sure" he sputtered out. He began speaking out loud, but I could still hear everything happening on the other end. It went something like this:

Nathan: Aw, that's bullshit!

Cuia: Come on, it's a fair game.

Nathan: There's just no way!

Sparkwire: Actually, I dealt the cards, and I can assure you, I did not cheat.

Nathan: Yeah, sure, tin-man.

Cuia: Crusoe, we're coming.

Crusoe: Why? Who's going to manage the ship?

Cuia: Oh, Coltrane does it all the time.

Nathan: This just doesn't make any fucking sense!

Cuia: Oh shut up, yes it does. I won all the chips, fair n' square.

Nathan: Well screw you too…

Cuia: Stop being such a sourpuss. I'm feeling charitable. Go grab whatever you want from storage.

Nathan: Yes!

(Chairs and chips hitting the floor are heard.)

Ryder: *in distant background* We're going somewhere?

Cuia: Don't worry about it. It's fine.

Sparkwire: Crusoe, I'd like to help in any way possible.\

Crusoe: Yeah, perfect. Would you mind staying back at the ship with Ryder? I need you two on the radio. And I really would beat myself up if either of you died here.

Cuia: I feel so included.

Crusoe: I don't need to worry about YOU dying.

Cuia: Oh. Well that's reassuring.

Ryder: Does that mean I can go back to sleep?

Cuia: Yes, you can go back to sleep.

Ryder: FINALLY.

Sparkwire: He's unusually tired lately.

Cuia: Yeah, he was up all night polishing shotguns. He really likes those things.

Sparkwire: I'm just concerned if it's healthy.

Crusoe: We gotta go…

Cuia: Well that means we better hurry. Come on Nathan!

Nathan: *in background* OKAY I'M COMING!

Crusoe's hand fell from his ear. "They're coming."

"WELL THAT'S JUST PEACHY!" Jake exploded again.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Cuia's Perspective, Pt.2**_

 _ **Back at the drop point…**_

"This has to be your worst idea to date." Nathan sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"I know. I need some new content, or else my 'bad' ideas might become too common." I said, smiling back. We'd just figured out how to use the gateway Jyn had tampered with. I will admit, his electronics skills are yet to be rivaled. I also brought his combat pack along, since he probably forgot it. Plus, it has healing and combat drones, not that'd we'd misuse those or anything…

Nathan swung his sword at a nearby tree, cleaving it in half with a dazzling purple-and-green flash. "I really need to not take your rigged-ass bets next time." He slung his sword over his back again. "I can tell I'm going to regret this." I shook my head disappointedly. "You'll never have any fun with that attitude." He turned to glare at me. "You call going to a freaking other world fun? One full of DRAGONS, which are awfully close to Wyverns? You know, the furry, slithery flying things that destroy everything? The reason my sky city is a ghost town?"

I nodded.

"Gahhh, you're going to regret coming here, I'll make sure of it." He muttered.

I slung Jyn's pack over my shoulder. "Come on, the guys have a headstart anyways, so we'll be double-timing." A small grin crept up his face as he lit his palm on fire. "Oh, you might want to try keeping up." Ghostly flaming wings appeared on his back. He shot into the sky faster than I could track, I didn't even see him lift off...Huh. Well, this sick bastard forgot I have a hoverbike controller. Which, might put me in danger of being seen, but I can outrun literally anything short of a magician and a cheetah once I hit 30, so I'll be fine. I pulled out the shiny circular disk, with red markings through the middle, centered on a button. I pressed it, then stepped back calmly. In a blink of light, a red hoverbike materialized. Well, it's not much of a bike, more like a hover-jeep if you ask me. Bike's usually don't fit four people. I leapt over the door, not bothering to open it. All I have to do now is avoid the trees/occasionally annoying pedestrians.

I stomped on the pedal.

The craft shot forward, humming and whirring as I shot through bushes and past the trees. Around five minutes later, I came to a clearing. Huh. I feel like something happened here recently. A small, narrow object embedded in the grass caught my eye. An arrow, I realized. Weird. Crusoe didn't say anything about people with bows. I guess I'll ask him later. Still, it's awfully odd to find a carbon arrow out here…

I sped off again, leaving a wake of bowing tall yellow grass. Ten minutes later I came upon a large rock in the middle of nowhere, where Nathan was lounging on his back in the sun. I slowed the craft down to a near stop, when Nathan stretched out his arms and sat up. "Gee, I wasn't expecting you for another day." He said, yawning.

I took off my hat, scratching my head anxiously. "Yeah, yeah, you're such a comedian. Get in."

I pulled out a small handheld radio out of the glovebox as Nathan dropped in.

I held down the rubber button on the side. "Crusoe. I need coordinates."

I waited for a few solitary seconds, then a solid voice spoke out through the small crackly speaker. "Yeah. Uh, coordinates, right. Um... It's like X: 22145 and Y: 550. Something like that. Around there. Just… stay safe. There's a palace full of morally bad dragons near our position, and we're busy trying to find some guy who just decided to lone-wolf this whole deal."

I blinked, then held down the button again. "Should we shut down the gateway?"

Static.

"Why?"

I stepped on the pedal again, shooting us off. "So we don't get company, like, you know, bandits and cultists? Or the U.S.C.M. specifically. I'm a fugitive from them too, you know."

Static, then a pause following a sigh.

"No. We might need help from the other side, especially if this rescue mission goes haywire. I have a feeling it's not going to be as easy as it looks."

I yanked the steering wheel, narrowly dodging a birch. "Yeah. But I don't think dragons can hold up to mechs with rockets. Which the U.S.C.M has a ton of."

Static, then another sigh. "Yeah. Jake still's pretty ticked about your coming here, by the way."

We sped over a small stream, scaring off ducks and parting reeds and cattails. "Yeah. Sounds like him. I have an idea for backup, if you'd like to hear it."

Static, static, static, then a garbled reply: "Ye-that'd be-ood."

I frowned. He must have some interference, probably trees or hills. "I got a friend. He's an Avali, so don't try anything stupid. He's awfully friendly, but likes being alone when he needs concentration. Anyways, he was in their special ops as a mechanical operator, with mechanical augments and stuff. He's also got a connection with some weapons vendor that has a stockpile of weapons from earth, mostly assault and sub-machine guns. I actually got most of my weapons from him, on that note. He's good."

Static. "Name?" his voice fizzed in.

"His name is Arc. He's got a small crew, but he's usually a lone wolf, as I said. Which usually leads to him having to save everybody who can't keep up with him, namely me. He's cool though. Has a AR-15."

No static this time...weird.

"Aw crap."

I slowed down as the bike slowly closed in on the coordinates. "What?"

"We might need that backup after all."

I punched the steering wheel. "SERIOUSLY?"

"Yeah." His voice was quieter, like he was hiding from someone… Uh-oh.

"He was caught, wasn't he?"

His shivery voice is all I heard in return. "Y-yeah…"

Nathan was leaning over my shoulder, suddenly interested. "Stay right where you are. DON'T YOU DARE move, or I'll drop-kick you out a seventeen story window, you hear me?"

His shivery breaths continued, while I heard Terri whimper in the background and Jyn turn dials on his wrist-computer-thingy. What was that called again? Dip-toy or something? I forget.

I rammed by foot onto the pedal, flooring it. This thing is mostly silent, so they wouldn't hear it until we were four feet away. Well, unless you're a freaking dragon. Or an Avali, with four floppy rabbit ears and tech augments. I really hope Arc could make it if I called. He'd do it, but we'd need someway to contact him while he's off having alone time, which would be pretty useful.

Orange pine needles flew up behind, bouncing off the side of the bike. Nathan began quickly chanting something to himself in the backseat, something like this;

"Out of dark a hero forms.

City's knight that serves no throne.

Saves a life for every ghost...that still haunts him in his bones…"

His emerald eyes now had a glowing orange tint to them. I sighed, trying to pay attention to our direction instead of asking him if he had contacts. _They're in danger._ I thought. _I need to get there before the risk of being killed becomes a guarantee._ We broke into a small clearing coated with ivy creeping on every tree branch. In the center of the clearing stood a massive orange dragon, with rippling muscles. The dragon's claws were closed around a struggling figure, who was grasping for the orange rubber handle of a hunting knife. I pressed the button on the controller again, causing the bike to disappear as I hit the ground running. "Hey, big and ugly!" The dragon's head swiveled, casting a sharp assessing glance in my direction. "Why don't you go torture someone who can hold their own!" I pounded my chest with a single fist. _I wonder if it even understands me…_ I drew my knife, positioning it parallel to my arm's vertical pose in front of my chest, the blade extending in front of my forearm. I then quickly adjusted my stance and flicked my fingers at him. "Come get some, carcass-breath!" I shouted.

The dragon almost completely ignored me, flicking it's gaze back to it's human captive.

I had only took a single step when I felt a searing pain course through my veins like liquid fire. I yelled out in pain, feeling my legs give way and hit the wet grass as the world faded away into a vision of darkness and shadows…

 **UPDATE:** Jyn has reached lvl. 36! Jyn unlocked some new perks!

Artificial Ninja: Melee and ranged attacks have significantly more damage while using Stealth-boys.

Hesitant: Weak stomach for death, so sniper-shots have a short delay.

Reaper of Death: You defeated Death! Better hope he doesn't have a hit-list…You are now being hunted by the surviving and new horsemen of the apocalypse, Death's associates.

Well-traveled: You've been there, done that, and even got a cool tee-shirt! +50 to survival, endurance, and guns skills.

 **UPDATE:** Jake leveled up!(lvl. 24) New perks/abilities unlocked!

Bloodthirst:

You don't got time to bleed! Health replenishes with every hit when this perk is active! Lasts 15 min.

Ricochet:

"Quit hitting yourself!" When this special tech ability is active, all attacks are reflected toward your enemies. Protects against melee, ranged (elemental), ranged advanced (guns), ranged prime (rocket launchers/heavy arms attacks/extreme impact), ranged elite (MAGIC).

Neural Armor capacity is now 102.

Health is now 120 maximum.

Physical armor is now maxed to 207.

 **UPDATE:** Nathan has leveled up! (lvl.16) New perks/abilities available!

Fire inside:

Nathan can now ignite himself in a full combustion aura, igniting everything at least a 4 ft. circular radius. Greatly exhausts energy, not recommended for all-time use.

Master swordsman:

Nathan now has a 75% chance to be too fast to anticipate in battle, leaving almost all enemy blocks useless.

 **UPDATE:** Cuia has leveled up! (lvl. 12) New perks/abilities available!

Island Gunslinger:

"He's a FAR CRY from the hero the world needs…" Cuia no longer waits for enemies to react, lethally eliminating all visible enemies with aimbot guided shots.

Knives, the Counter-strike edition:

Cuia plays CS:GO a bit too often…

Now has chance to execute critical eliminations when using a knife.

Medic on break:

Cuia now heals all innocent bystanders with a severe passion.

 **UPDATE:** Crusoe has leveled up! (lvl. 11) New perks/abilities available!

Modern-day assassin:

"Must've been a ghost.." Crusoe has a odd hobby for overkill assassinations…

Now all extra damage left over from a kill is transferred into his next attack, make way for an invisible massacre!

Wind of the west:

Crusoe's smg now has incendiary bullets, which can ignite enemies! Speed has increased by 30.

 **UPDATE:** Terri leveled up! (lvl.6) New perks/abilities available!

Feathers of the Phoenix:

Terri is a direct descendant of a rare avian breed that could control fire! Now has the ability to manipulate and create fire at will, as well as now being impossible to be harmed by any form of combustion.

Combat Mastery:

Her merchant career required knowing how all kind of weapons worked, including rocket launchers. +50 accuracy/precision with all weapons.

 **This was all for fun, but I'm still implementing all of the abilities...** ** _somehow._**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Milo's Perspective, pt. 3**_

Kestrel's trial was about halfway through, and I swear that if anyone actually showed Queen Scarlet the show Law & Order, she'd be in her room until the entire series was cancelled. Or until she found the 'special victims unit' spin-off. "The dragonets were defective," the older-looking dragon continued. _Yeesh, his voice is really boring._ I thought. "One had too much fire, the other did not have enough. As per SkyWing custom, you ordered Kestrel to kill them both and stay out of the breeding program for the rest of her life." I swear everybody glanced at Peril, who was obviously hiding under Clay's wings. _Huh. They're kinda cute together._ I thought. _Peril's definitely one of those dragonets Kestrel had._

I glanced at Sidewinder, who'd begun looking like maybe his earlier suggestion of not committing suicide was soon to be repealed.

"Hey," I said to him, trying to add a small sympathetic dulling to my voice, which wasn't too hard to do for him. He looked up with sad eyes. "Yes?" he asked quietly. "You okay?" I asked. "I mean, nooooobody should be this depressed. It hurts other people to see you sad and all, too. Just do you know."

He sighed, then rested his head on his knuckles. "What's the point?" he mumbled. _He's a literal well of despair._ I thought. "I have some very powerful friends who're probably coming to get me. Unless they've been caught, which I could see happening." I replied. He raised his head, a small flicker of hope arising in his eyes. "Really? What makes you so sure they're coming?" I pulled the comlink I'd took off out from under one of my wings, where I'd tucked it, and held it up for him to see. His lip twitched as his face switched to an expression of confusion. "What's that?" _This is pretty risky, but here goes…_ I inhaled sharply.

"It's a comlink," I began. "Which is an advanced piece of tech that probably shouldn't exist." He frowned. "What's it do?" his voice had gotten slightly more stable. I turned it around in my claws, examining all the edges and curves with a minor sense of superiority. _Of course I feel this way,_ I thought. _It's a freaking device of communication that these dragons have yet to conquer._ "It lets you communicate with anyone else who has the signal from anywhere you are. Watch." I turned the device around searching for the 'mobile' preset, which was used to talk to Jyn. I pressed it down. "Hey, Jyn, you guys hanging in out there?" The response was after a long ten-second pause. "Woo! You got 'im! Wait, Milo? You there?" Sidewinder's eyes widened with fascination. I grinned, feeling a bit happier now that he wasn't moping around. "Yeah, how you guys doing?"

"Well, let's just say our previous party of supposed-to-be four people has accelerated up to about nine."

I coughed. "What? Who else is there?"

The comm fizzed, having more interference.

"Uh, Cuia is here and unconscious, Jake's here, Nathan only had to come because he lost a bet, Leighton, a new guy who just strolled into the portal out of interest, and Cuia's friend Arc, who's an Avali, and some friend he brought with him that only speaks german."

I sighed. "And now stealth is out of the question. You accumulated quite the motley crew, didn't you?"

He laughed. "Yeah, you could say that. Crusoe's specialty is being a fucking cartographer, if you didn't know. He's constantly spewing out facts, but they're all pretty useful sounding."

I snorted. "I actually didn't see that coming. He doing okay? Oh, and Arc was the name of the guard who put me here, believe it or not. I find that a bit spooky."

'Yeah, he's fine. Terri's here too, but she wasn't much happier than you when I shot her and Crusoe with the weird-speech gun." He sighed. "I really need better names for stuff…"

Sidewinder looked at me with a questioning look. _I should probably explain a bit more…_ "Uh, anything important to date?" I said into the comm.

The reply was delayed.

"Um, we knocked a random SkyWing unconscious…" I heard Crusoe shouting at him angrily in the background.

"Huh. Be careful. I gotta go. Bye."

"Yeah, sure."

I set the comm down on the stone pillar, which was now warm from the sun and faced Sidewinder. "Could you possibly tell me more about..everything? I really didn't understand much of what he said information-wise. What's a gun, for instance?" he rapidly asked. _Well, he's not afraid anymore..._ I sighed, knowing I walked right into this one, and kinda deserved it.

 _ **Five minutes later…(insert RVB Blood Gulch Blues here…)**_

"So lemme get this straight, you're friends with scavengers," he paused. "Mmhm." I responded.

"Have a bracelet that allows you to be any creature you want,"

I nodded.

"And you were a scavenger-erm, sorry, _human,_ if I'm saying that correctly, before you were a dragon?"

I nodded again. "It's… complicated."

"I'll say." he snorted.

We sat in silence for a moment. Well, almost a moment, until Peril shot down towards where Kestrel was being tried. Hold up, 'tried' is more like it. She landed nearby the guards, who shied back a bit when her talons hit the sand. "It can't be true!" she cried. "Tell me it's not true!"

 _Jeez, what's her problem? Oh, right. No friends except Clay…_

Upon looking in his direction, I noted that one of the long cables extending had been sheared during Peril's swoop of desperation from her position. _I wonder if the queen notices where Peril's advance position of origin. Huh. Well THERE'S something that could put Clay in jeopardy._ I looked down at my own bonds, which appeared to be some kind of cast-iron shackles. _These must be the latest in metal advances for this certain colony, 'tribe' if you will._ I froze in mid thought for a second. _Jesus, I sound like a freaking scientist nut-job back from the freighter._ I'm of course referring to the freighter I was stationed on, when I was enlisted by force into the United Systems Colonial Marine corps, or the U.S.C.M.

Which was probably the most exciting and perilous fraction of my life till this previous last few days, mainly because I was using technology unseen to common eyes that I didn't know were stolen from Cuia until recently.

 _I miss being in firefights. They're a lot more entertaining than sitting here because I'd probably die the second I try to escape._

Okay, I've forgotten to note this, because you'd think it were obvious, but you know how I've occasionally gambled with small chances and used my bracelet for stupid stuff, right? Well, it turns out whatever genius designed the thing made it so whatever's touching your body when you change forms disappears along with it.

Sounds okay so far, right?

Not really…

The last few times I've changed forms from dragon to something else, the shackles disappear along with it.

But when I change back to a dragon, the shackles reappear, fastened to the cables as if they never left, which is a problem in my case.

And it could lead to some peculiar consequences.

So, back to reality.

"You lied to me!" Peril was saying. "You said she was dead!"

 _Oof._

"Peril, dear. Would you have wanted to know your mother was alive somewhere, raising other dragonets and wishing she'd killed you instead of your brother?" Queen Scarlet asked her.

 _Jeez,_ I thought. _That's not a very fair question._

I think I missed something while thinking, because the queen of the SkyWings continued speaking in her usual menacing way. "Haven't I kept you alive all these years?" She said. "Finding you the black rocks, feeding you, making you my champion? Don't you appreciate all the things I've done for you? Aren't I a better mother anyway?"

 _No,_ I thought. _I might have had not much for parents, but I know they usually don't strap dragons on rocks and have insane gladiator matches that your foster child takes part in, may I add._

Woo, I need a break from talking on a recording device.

Crusoe! Stop flirting with Terri and get over here!

It's your turn, I guess.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Crusoe's Perspective**_

I-uh, don't exactly know how to uh…

Oh it's on? Crap.

So uh, long story edited by a sushi chef,

We just met Arc the Avali and Zäzilie the dragon hybrid-thing, who then transformed into a "feral" dragon.

Zäzilie did, not Arc, if that was too hard for you.

I thought it was a bit too fast...

Aaaaaaanywaaaaaaaay….

We'd just knocked some random SkyWing unconscious.

I poked his nose. "What are we gonna do with him now that he's asleep?" I asked aloud.

Jyn approached behind me, shouldering the mechanical defence pack Cuia had brought for him.

"Beats me. I think we should either use him as a hostage to get into the palace, or just bind him and leave him here. Or we could interrogate him for important information."

"That last one was just desperate in the ideas department," I noted. "I probably already know anything important he could tell you, save his name."

Cuia walked over to us after finishing talking to Arc, who had begun a conversation with Zäzilie. I thought it was a little funny how she towered over him.

Also the fact that nobody can explain how her transformation even happened.

That one's a mystery.

I like this recorder-thingy. It's fun to use. And a lot easier than WRITING, ugh.

I tried it once, writing. Afterward my fingers were so sore I almost tried popping them on a cinder block before Cuia took it away, claiming that 'wasn't good for my hands'. But, now that I think about, I never tried writing after the incident where I got the archaic gauntlet.

It might be different, since my hands are slowly being coated in metal against my will. But hey, we all pay the price for power, am I right?

"Crusoe, why are you standing here doing nothing instead of spouting out stuff we might need to know?" Cuia asked impatiently. His feathers were a bit ruffled, as he'd just been in a weird-spasm-filled mini-coma.

I shrugged. "Maybe I don't feel like doing that."

He put his hands on his hips, his voice hitting a dangerous tone. "Well, I suppose I could just shoot any random dragon who charges in our direction… " I drew in a sharp breath. "I mean, after all," he continued, "I wasn't told who our potential benefactors could be." a small malicious grin crept up the side of his beak.

(Yes, for those who didn't realize/remember, he and Terri are Avians, who are basically bird people.)

I sighed, heaving my shoulders in distress. _Well, at least I know SOME things…._

I pressed my fingers into my eye sockets in defeat. "What do you want to know…?"

His voice gained a triumphant tone. "Well, how far into the future have you read? We need limits here."

"Book six, a quarter into book seven" I answered.

"Time, not books." he reminded me.

"Oh right. Uh, a month or so. Well, two months-ish? Kinda skipped a month on book five." I said, glancing down at my right hand, which I realized was now outlined in the same material as my opposing gauntlet. _How did I not notice that there before?_ _It's MY hand for god's sake._

"Any specific names to look out for?" he continued, unblinking.

I racked my brain for a second. "Uh….Well, there's the Dragonets of Destiny; Clay, Tsunami, Starflight, Sunny, and Glory."

I said, getting a good intake of air before continuing. "Um, Webs I guess. Then…" This endured for quite awhile. Cuia listened intently the entire time, surprisingly enough. _Hmm, I guess he has a bit more patience than I give him credit for._ "...aaand then there's Kinkajou. That's about it for now." I finished. I sat down on the vine-coated ground, clutching my knees.

Cuia looked deep in thought. "So...these are our potential allies? And what do you mean, _For now'_?"

I blinked.

"Uh, there might be more people we meet who were never mentioned who might become important due to our just being here."

His eyes widened just the tiniest. "Huh. Neat, I guess.."

"Yeah. Oh, and if you _really_ want to shoot someone, just go leap into a random skirmish. The entire continent's in a war, you know." I added sarcastically.

He exhaled sharply.

"Why did the fact that the entire freaking continent is in the middle of a war not seem IMPORTANT BEFORE?" he grumbled.

I spread my palms. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I focused mainly on the dialogue."

We sat in silence for somewhere close to thirty seconds.

 _Wait. It's been HAS been oddly quiet..._

I quickly glanced around, noticing that everyone else was here, just talking in hushed tones. Everyone but…

"Where's Leighton?" Cuia asked.

I leapt off my knees, wincing at the weird feel at my lower legs having fallen asleep while I was kneeling. "Where the heck did he go…" I murmured.

 _In the forest,_ I thought quickly, shivering. _He's gone to go kill someone,_

 _But would he? After the last confrontation?_

 _No. He'd take less chances, I'd assume. He's just that kind of person that tosses everyone in the same bin labeled 'take ZERO chances with, kill on sight'._

 _Which can't be good. Can it?_

Cuia was busy asking Jyn if he'd seen Leighton leave. He shrugged, saying something I couldn't hear from my position.

Cuia walked back over with a grim, weary look on his face. "Jyn says he claimed to have heard something and walked off, but that was ten minutes ago." he wiped his brow. "I really think he's either dead, or he deserted us."

I shook my head. "I don't think he'd do that. Would he?"

 _Yes, would he?_ I thought. _I mean, we barely know the guy, he just started to tag along._

I shivered.

" _Oh, and if you really want to shoot someone, just go leap into a random skirmish. The entire continent's in a war, you know"_ I had said.

 _He's gone to kill someone._

 _And it's all my fault._

 ** _Zazilie belongs to I'mNotAFurry, probably the coolest boiyo on the WOF Amino._**


	11. Skyline's log 1

_**Leighton's Perspective**_

 _ **(commonly also referred to as Agent Skyline by employers)**_

 _ **2 hours later…**_

 _ **Recorded for future reference.**_

I think I lost them. I was trying to, at least.

Those _idiots_ don't stand a chance out here in a huge group anyways.

Heh. And they actually believed I was just some 'passing stranger' too. They're either not used to being fooled, or they're a lot dumber than the files were implying.

Hmm. I should probably mention that that 'passing stranger' garbage was my cover.

I'm a mercenary.

Now, you might be thinking, ' **Gee, why would you fool them anyways?'**

Because I don't need some nosy imbeciles peeking through my stuff, least of all in a world with mind-reading dragons and pygmy-people.

Yes, I wasn't lying about the 'book-I-read' part. I actually read this stuff. And I know more than Crusoe, from what I've gathered.

' **Why'd you go here in the first place anyways?'** you may ask again.

Because of my latest job opportunity.

Which is, of course, bringing in Crusoe, Cuia, and their friend Milo to the U.S.C.M., who was so gracious to hire me for my reputation of getting things done.

' **But isn't that mean?'**

But you see, it's just business. At the end of the day, if I'm _faster_ than you, if I'm _smarter_ than you, if I'm _Stronger_ than you, that means I can _kill_ you. And that's better than than _anything_ money could buy.

I could take them all down if I wanted to but they have the advantage of numbers.

But fighting them alone? That's just a playdate with the devil.

Crusoe, let's see, he's weak, he can't control his powers as well as he wishes, and forgets about it when it matters most. He's reliant on others, has hardly any actual battlefield experience, and is too busy letting loose valuable information instead of making sure his position is secure.

And Cuia, He seems like a formidable opponent, right?

Not from where I'm standing.

Sure, he's a crack-shot and has medical and combat expertise.

But he, like Crusoe, is too reliant. Reliant on his abilities, his weapons, and his charisma for any and all situations.

Just put him in a scenario where his abilities are useless and take away his weapons and he's basically useless.

More useless than normal, that is.

Anyone else dies?

That's just collateral damage.

That's enough talking for now. Maybe if what I'm thinking goes perfectly, I might not have to bring in my bounties…

After all, bounties are paid in gold in Pyrrhia, aren't they?

I think after those guys head in there trying to save Milo, I'll take an opportunity. A _special_ opportunity.

This is Skyline, signing off on reference number one.

Status: Feeling like getting bloody.

 _ **PLEASE**_ **tell me you saw the RvB reference.**


	12. An Excuse

**Crusoe**

Cuia: "Crusoe, where's the recorder?"

Crusoe: "Uh…"

Cuia: "DID YOU FORGET IT!?"

Crusoe: "Um. Maaaayyybeeeee?"

Cuia: "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!"

Crusoe: "Hey! Swearing changes nothing!"

Cuia: *Enraged* DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M _SANE_ ENOUGH TO CARE?!

Crusoe: "We don't _need_ it. It was just a... nice thing to have. We can write everything down from here, I guess.

Cuia: "Well you can do it by yourself, because that was a thirty-dollar recorder!"

Crusoe: …

Crusoe: *sigh*

So, yeah, I have to write everything down by hand. Isn't it just _fantastic?_

I'm gonna screw with Cuia's head for this. (And maybe whoever ACTUALLY reads this, too)

I've almost lost my daily dose of sanity for today.

I'M GONNA SWITCH EVERYTHING FROM HERE ON OUT INTO THIRD-PERSON!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(And seriously, it was bound to happen anyways.)


	13. RIP Crusoe's socks

_**Crusoe's ACTUAL Perspective.**_

 _ **(**_ _Holy crap, and I thought I was done. But then the guilt of not finishing something kicked in. XD_ _ **)**_

 _Five minutes. That's all it takes._ Crusoe thought as he sprinted through the forest, brushing aside branches and leaping over bushes. The soft ground would bend in every time his boots hit the ground, which was being a tad disorienting. _Five minutes,_ he thought again. _That's the least time it should take to find him._ He was still looking for Leighton.

 _He could have already been captured,_ A small part of his mind whispered.

 _Yes, but we'd hear his 'quiet' personality from a mile away in the form of a gunshot._ He thought again, sliding under a low hanging branch. He winced. _Aaaand now there's pine needles in my socks,_

He continued running, shaking off the weird feeling. _This is almost pointless._ He thought. _He's probably halfway there by now._ He stopped, leaned against a nearby tree, and began to catch his breath. _God, why does everything have to go wrong…_

Moments passed….

Branches snapped behind him as Cuia arrived through the trees, panting as he rested his hands on his knees.

"How….are you not…. _tired_?" he managed between breaths.

Crusoe shrugged, not particularly interested in finding out why. He assumed it'd have something to do with his gauntlet anyway.

 _And it's not important right now,_ he thought.

"I'll worry later. Right now we have to focus on finding Leighton." he turned back to him.

"You know, _before_ he kills someone?" he added, spreading his arms.

Cuia nodded. "Probably. That'd suck, I think." He looked up. "Right?"

Crusoe snorted. "No, it'd be fine. We'd just have to casually explain to some SkyWings that, 'hey, our crazy accomplice killed one of your friends, big Oops, sorry.' and hug and make up."

He said with a casually sarcastic tinge. Cuia blinked. "Yeah, sure. All we'd need then is a party."

He hesitated, then added quietly, "and Milo…"

Crusoe nodded, remembering why they were still here.

 _Well, I guess we'll find out soon._

The rest of the group arrived later, after Cuia and Crusoe waited for around a half-an-hour.

"So we're just leaving the SkyWing there?" Jyn asked. "You know, just like how you said we shouldn't?'

Crusoe nodded. "If they find Leighton, it wouldn't be much different. The good thing is Leighton doesn't' know about much of our abilities, if they tried getting information out of him. And that's just resting on the slim hope they realize how important he is."

Arc shifted his AR-15 to his opposite shoulder, edging a bit closer to Zäzilie. "Is that a good thing? If they realize how important he is, sure, he might not die immediately, but he might get killed after revealing enough information."

Crusoe shifted his knee slightly. "I'd thought of that. I guess...but from what I've gathered, she usually keeps the more valuable prisoners in a separate prison, not fighting in the arena." he scratched his chin. _But...Gill, the SeaWing who was married to Queen Coral...he was actually pretty important, but Queen Scarlet still puts him in the arena. Maybe she thought he was a dead end, who knows._ He glanced up and noted Arc's position. _Do I look like that when I'm near Terri? He looks...happy. Really, really, really, happy. Huh…_ He also noted that Zäzilie was now humanoid again. _How did I overlook that? She must've just changed back. Oh, her clothes must've ripped too, and Terri lent her spare set of armor. Terri...she's so awesome…...Shut up, Crusoe. You've got a job to do._

"So...What do we do now?" Jyn asked impatiently. "We've been asking the same question for almost _two hours_."

"Well...We could try literally storming the castle, taking no prisoners...well, except the prisoners, and then walk out with a huge explosion behind us like those low-budget action movies…"

Jake suggested. "Or, you know, we could send int the two people who can turn LITERALLY INVISIBLE on a reconnaissance mission, not to mention they also have some of the most hazardous weapons ever discovered." He tapped his finger on the tip of Jyn's rifle. "The hazard comes out of here, if you didn't know."

Jyn blinked like he didn't get the joke.

Nathan had his massive sword propped over his shoulder. "Well, I'm all for the 'castle-crashing'. Stealth, I can do that too, just not as well as those two." He said, pointing at Crusoe and Jyn.

Cuia nodded. "You'd just have to make sure not to get caught, because you know we'll bust in to save your sorry arses."

Crusoe liked that. Nobody was putting anybody down so far, so he guessed this was almost as close as they could get. "Alright. We'll try that. We just have to make sure not to make anything too obvious, though. Like for instance, we both will have to stick to the tiniest shadows, or else a passer-by could notice a shadow not connected to anything moving across the floor."

Terri nodded, but she looked unsure. "Well, what are we going to do then?" she asked, gesturing to everybody else.

 _Huh. Well, some support is always welcome in stealth approaches, I guess._

"I need you guys to stay a reasonable distance away from the palace, but not too far." Crusoe said, pointing at her. "When we're coming out, we might have some _unwanted_ attention. Unwanted attention that's very fast, very angry, and shoots fire."

Jyn paled, suddenly looking like he was beginning to regret this idea.

Jake patted him on the back enthusiastically. "You up for this?"

Jyn continued staring off in the direction of the palace, a anxious look flashing away from his face. "Uh, y-yeah, yeah." he said quietly.

Crusoe turned toward the palace's direction, wincing. _And there's still pine needles in my sock…._

After emptying out his sock, he and Jyn bid the others farewell and began to venture towards the SkyWing palace.

 _I hope this plan doesn't go off the rails…_

 _Heck, I could DIE._

 _Well isn't that comforting._

"Hey," Jyn said, tapping him on the shoulder.

Crusoe snapped out of thought. "Yes?"

Jyn was fiddling with a glove in his hand, twisting it around and creasing it. "W-what are we planning to do when we get there?"

 _I have no idea._

"Let's just figure it out along the way." Crusoe said, failing to mask his nervousness.

 _You better not screw up your rescue before it gets there, Milo._

They arrived around...Hmmm, let's go with an hour, because Crusoe was telling Jyn the dangers of the Sky palace along the way. "...and we'll have to make sure not to go into any main hallways, because the slightest touch could-"

"-give away your position, yes, I know. It's not my first stealth operation. I know it's yours, though." Jyn broke in, annoyed. "I should be educating _you_ for god's sake."

"Be quiet."

"You can't shut me up that eas-"

"No, shut up. We're here."

He quieted. "Oh."


	14. Tis but a flesh wound (I had to! XD)

_**Arc's perspective**_

"Well, this is a good a spot as any." Cuia said, scraping wet leaves off a stump, then promptly sitting down on it.

"We can see the palace perfectly from here, and there's even sound coverage." he said, then yelling; "BECAUSE IT'S BY A WATERFALL, HAHAHA!"

"A waterfall? Hmm…" Zazilie commented quietly, her eyes narrowing.

 _I guess a waterfall is a good position. Would be a bit better if we had a sniper, though._ Arc thought.

He was currently feeling pretty useless, if not embarrassed about it.

 _What can I do anyways? It's not like we'll have anyone to fight, let's say._

As if on cue, a figure in red-black knight's armor leapt out of the bushes with their sword raised, running straight toward Nathan.

 _Oh, that's just perfect._

"Nathan-"

Nathan spun around, obviously hearing his attacker's footsteps. He caught the antagonist's sword on his blade's crossguard, then swept their feet out from under them and leveled his blade at their throat.

"Live or die, man." he said, Arc could tell he was grinning.

The figure laughed under the helm, which revertabrated metallically.

"Do you honestly think you could kill me in the time of which I'm strongest? You're even more foolish than I suspected." The attacked spoke. Arc could tell it was a female under the helmet, but not who.

(It's the Black Knight!)

Cuia stiffened. He'd leapt off the log the instant Arc tried warning Nathan. "War." he looked to Nathan. "Nathan, get out, now!" Arc wondered why he was panicking already, then looked closer at the woman's armor, which had began to glow a blood-red and hum eerily.

Cuia backed away as Terri leveled her spear, about to charge at the woman in armor.

"Terri, don't go near there, she makes everyone enraged at each other. It's her main uh, power-ish thing." he shouted, his voice shaking.

 _He looks...scared. I've never seen him like that, he's scared of less things than I am._

 _That can't be good._

"He's right," Arc blurted, earning a thankful glance from Cuia. "I-I don't-I've never heard of this person, but by how Cuia doesn't look too calm about it is _definitely_ room for concern."

Terri scowled, then slowly backed away.

Nathan lowered his sword away from War, leaving her to retrieve her sword and get up.

Cuia was shaking now. "Nathan." he hissed.

" _What_ are you _doing_?"

 _Oh no._

War laughed, causing Arc to shiver. "He's not listening to you, can't you see? He's absolutely _sick_ of you. Ha!"

Cuia shook his head. "No. No no no no no oh no. God no." he murmured, his voice edging shakily.

Nathan tilted his neck side to side, letting off a series of _pops_.

Arc's talons slowly drifted to the Colt Python holstered on his thigh.

Jake held out his shotgun, pointing it at War. "WHAT did you _DO TO HIM_?!" he yelled.

War laughed again, almost howling in fact. "I did almost certainly nothing. His anger towards you is what fuels him."

Cuia raised his handgun. "Nathan, don't do anything stupid…"

Nathan responded with lighting his sword on fire.

Arc winced it the sudden heat. "Woah, that's kinda coo-"

In a sudden swift movement, War sprinted at him, jabbing at his chest.

 _Yikes!_

He sidestepped her, tripping her at the same time then drew his pistol. "War," he said, "Meet my peacemaker." he pulled the trigger. Then again. And again.

The rounds went to her left arm, leg, and her chest, sending her sprawling to the ground, her arms splayed out. Arc lowered the smoking revolver, shaking from the adrenaline.

"Well," he said quietly. Then he turned around...and was bashed in the face with a sword hilt.

 _Gah!_

He fell backward, moaning at the sharp pain originating from his nose, which was now bleeding.

Cuia groaned from behind Nathan. "Nathan, I'm sorry…" he muttered.

He unloaded his .45 rounds on Nathan, downing him.

"What?!" Arc cried. "We could have saved him!"

Jake shook his head. "He's not dead, he only slowed him. His armor can withstand being hit by an Eighteen-wheeler. Now all we have to do is run!" He spun around and started sprinting towards the nearby treeline.

Cuia followed in suit, bolting after Jake.

He stopped at the edge of the trees, and gave Nathan one last glance before he ran into the forest.

Arc still hadn't gotten up from the ground, and he had spots dancing in front of his eyes. "What the- Where'd everybody go?" he sat up, then climbed up from his knees. Terri stood above him, looking at something behind him. Her face was frozen in fear, an uncommon thing to see, from her of all people. _What? What is it?_ He turned around.

War was back up again, twirling her sword as she casually strode toward Arc, Terri, and Zazilie.

 _Well, bullets didn't work, now what?_ Arc thought, frowning.

He could try challenging her in melee combat, but due to the fact she was carrying a sword instead of, let's say a flamethrower, he might not survive the encounter.

"Most people would be dead…" he muttered.

"I am not _most people_ , little Avali." War chuckled malevolently.

 _She can hear pretty well for a lady in a helmet!_

He turned to Zazilie. "Any ideas? I'm open to suggestions."

She had her pistol drawn. "Hm? I...I don't know."

"Terri, you got anything?" he asked.

She was still paralyzed in fear, with a terrified expression.

Arc sighed. "Guess not."

Nathan leapt up from the ground where he had laid before with a single graceful motion, re-igniting his sword. He actually GROWLED, for pete's sake. "Oh, it just gets better and better…" Arc muttered.

 _Plan: Strike at whoever charges first._

 _Bring it, bucket-head._

War struck first, slashing her blade in a wide arc (hah!) toward, well, Arc.

He rolled out of the way, but just barely, grazing his feathers.

He responded by drawing his own sword in turn, crouching in a defensive stance. Terri unfroze all of the sudden, letting out a cry as she whacked Nathan in the head with the butt of her spear, sending him reeling.

War slashed at Arc's thighs, resulting in him leaping backwards, and striking at her left shoulder, glancing off a pauldron and leaving frost coating the black metal.

She shoved him back with a snarl and sliced at his head, drawing a thin line of blood from his cheek. They backed away from each other, still circling with looks of rage and hate.

"This is going to end with me as the only victor, little creature! You can't kill me in a place where a full-scale war is going on!"

To prove her point, her armor once had holes where the Colt bullets had pierced her armor, but where now nowhere to be found.

 _As if they never existed…she draws her energy from mass combat. Aaaaaand that's what most of the inhabitants of this world are engaged in._ Arc realized.

 _This is the one fight we cannot possibly win._ He was almost out of ideas.

 _Blink-explosion. That'll be tiring, but worth it. Here goes everything._

He focused on channeling his energy into the sword, then released, teleporting him behind War and leaving an icy explosion where he'd once stood, coating her in liquid nitrogen, which then solidified. War was now an ice sculpture, frozen in eternal fury in mid-swing.

"Well," he said finally. "I guess she got 'cold feet' so to speak."

(WOW 11/10 'BEST' PUN TO DATE)

Nathan got up from the ground rubbing his eyes. "How'd she knock me down… Hey, why am I in a completely different area than before?" He climbed up from the ground. "Seriously, what'd I miss?"

Terri groaned. "You were being mind-controlled," she said, wiggling her talons menacingly to prove her point.

"You were all, 'Haha, eat steel, and she was all, 'Sharing is caring!' and you started being all lumbery and angry." she said, poking him in the chest. "And I got to hit you in the head! YAAAAAAYYYY!"

He rubbed his forehead, frowning. "So that's why I have a headache…."

Arc frowned back at him. "Which part? The mind-warping or the head-whack?"

Nathan felt around his head with his hand, then arrived on a side with a large welt and grimaced.

"Definitely the head-whacking…" he groaned.

Arc laughed. "Well, that'll do that to ya."

Nathan glanced around for the first time. "Hey, um, where's Cuia and Jake?"

As if on cue, Jake jogged out of the trees. "Why'd you not run?" he asked, as Cuia appeared out of the forest behind him. Nathan put on his red mask over his head, probably embarrassed at the fact he had a huge red welt next to his forehead. "Um, because if we're gonna fight someone, we at least have to TRY." Arc answered.

"Hmph."Cuia barely acknowledged.

He stared at the frozen form of War, who was trapped in ice.

"I wonder why she attacked us the same time when neither Jyn nor Crusoe were here…" Cuia pondered out loud.

Jake prodded War the ice cube with his shotgun.

"Here's a thought, Plague could've told her about Crusoe completely owning him when we got here, and she was already aware of Jyn getting rid of Death."

"She then waited until those two were gone, probably thinking she'd overpower us." His visor flickered momentarily, staring at everybody in the group.

Terri twirled her spear in an impressive singular motion, returning it to her back.

"Well, I guess if it's okay with you guys, I'm gonna go get some water, cause' Im thirsty!" she walked toward the waterfall, humming a happy tune.

Cuia shook his head after she left. "I still don't know what Crusoe sees in her…" Arc agreed, Crusoe was a bit odd with his taste in friends and love interests. "She's something special, I guess." Cuia continued.

"Still, War's not gonna be held in there for long. It's like, _summer_. Ice doesn't like that." Nathan pointed out.

Arc sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We probably need to find a new location, especially with my gunshots echoing- OH RIGHT, WATERFALL."

Cuia flinched. "Ri-ight, about that. Gunshots usually aren't masked that well with a waterfall, soooo… yeah…" he finished, wringing his talons.

Arc took out his revolver and unloaded the empty bullet shells, replacing them with new ammunition. He then spun the chamber around, then slapped it back into the gun. "That's dealt with, I guess." he exhaled deeply.

He shoved the Colt back into his holster, closing his eyes. _Well, this was just all okay, no problems here, wooooo…_

Weirdly, Zäzilie had noticeably gotten slightly closer to Arc. "..."

She stared at her gun, then stopped.

Arc noticed as well, but decided to attempt to not make a big deal out of it. He looked up at Zäzilie and gave her what he hoped passed as a friendly smile, and poked her in the shoulder.

"Hey. How you holdin' up?" he asked quietly.

He really was interested, because she'd been pretty quiet the entire day. And because, well, he _like-liked_ her.

"I'm doing good, nothing strange yet... though that 'feral' drachen thing would've been useful..." She responded.

He nodded, grinning. "Oh yeah. That'd helped a ton. War would've had some second thoughts about attacking us with a giant awesome dragon here to help us!" he nudged her playfully, about to complement her more on that topic, then stopped, remembering something. "But..., you're still awesome right now, too. I don't think Terri or Jake can fire a pistol as well as you can, you think?"

"Hey!" complained Jake from the distance, where he and Cuia had followed Terri down the hill to get water with her.

"I heard that! I just really like using weapons I can actually AIM. The ERT didn't do well on supplying us with iron OR laser sights!"

"Maybe I can just fire a pistol better than you guys."

She smiled. "Well thanks for the compliment, but I don't know about a pistol, but a G36C, I bet I can fire THAT better than them." She said, looking at her rifle.

Arc laughed. "Hah. I suppose so, but I heard Cuia is actually a pretty good shot with that M1911 of his, he's even got an extended mag and everything. I- I guess I'm not TOO bad with a handgun, but I could do better with my AR." She grinned back at him, her sharp white teeth flashing in the setting sun. "Thirty G36C rounds, fifteen USP 9mm rounds, a red dot sight... hey did I mention I'm a tank operator?"

"Oh my god, yes." he giggled. "MULTIPLE TIMES"

"Really?" she said, blinking. "When?"

"Um, all the time." he said. "Literally. I think I even heard you say it in your sleep. NOT that I watched you sleep, or anything." _Nope, too far._

She snorted, laughing. "Riiiiiiight."

He blushed, his tail darting back and forth.

Jake's helmet peeked over the hill, then disappeared again. "Yeah, they're fine." Arc heard him say.

Cuia's head peeked up. "Yeah Arc, get some! Bow chicka bow wow!" his head disappeared below the ridge of the hill again, with him still laughing his head off.

(Yes, it's a terrible RvB reference, but It's still here.)

Arc felt hot, and felt like his feathers might turn red he was so embarrassed. _Darn you Cuia._

"Well, I guess we should wait till Crusoe and Jyn get back." Arc said, still looking into Zazilie's eyes.

"Awwww...You guys are cute, you know that?" Nathan said suddenly.

Arc jumped. _Was he there the entire time?_

"Um, how long have you been standing there?" Arc timidly asked.

Nathan shrugged, his face unreadable under his mask. "Long enough to see that Cuia was kinda justified."

Arc's face fell. "Oh."

 _Well that's nice._

 _(Zazilie belongs to Hellish, probably one of the coolest boiyos on a WoF amino that I've ever met.)_

 _(Yes, this chapter was adapted from an Rp)_

 _(I like waffles)_

 _(and goodnight.)_


	15. Chapter 15

So uh...  
Hi?

I've kinda not posted anymore chapters on here for...

 _Multiple_ reasons.  
One being I had a better spectrum of readers on Amino, and...  
I kinda forgot?  
Sorry.  
I mean, sorry, if anybody cares. *laughs to hide that he's dead inside*

Um. Yeah. So here'e the rest of a 90-page Google Document. (Not just in this one chapter, silly. My brain couldn't handle that.)

Enjoy. (?) 

_**Jyn's perspective**_

 _ **In the SkyWing palace corridors…**_

"This place is spooky…" Jyn whispered to Crusoe, who he could still sense behind him. "Hmph." Crusoe grunted. He'd been awfully somber the entire time, as if this brought back bad memories. _I wonder if I could ever get that out of him sometime…_ Jyn thought.

Getting in had been easy, since Crusoe had brought rope grapples, allowing them to rappel into an unguarded window.

"It's a miracle we didn't get caught…" Crusoe had said.

He'd sounded pretty skeptical, as if it'd been too easy.

"Well, It's a pretty small window to them, I guess." Jyn pointed out. "They might've thought it wasn't worth paying attention to."

Crusoe grunted. "Huh. Let's hope."

After wandering the halls for a few hours, and successfully avoiding the dragons that occasionally scurried down the hallways with their heads down, they'd made it back to the window where Jyn had last talked to Milo before Jyn was attacked by Plague.

"Okay, here's the plan;" Crusoe whispered. "This window is almost completely ignored, because it's facing the arena. Because, of course, no decently intelligent enemies would come directly into everyone's line of sight, especially in the daytime, where they could be instantly slaughtered by the entire SkyWing army." he paused. "Never mind, they'd be dead before they made it within a mile. The SkyWings have the fastest messengers to request additional support."

Jyn blinked expectantly. "Milo's up there…."

Crusoe stifled a cough. "Right. Here's the plan. We wait."

Jyn sighed quietly. "Again?" he hissed. Crusoe said nothing, but Jyn could tell he was nodding with a straight face.

"Then, when you hear the signal, you fly as fast as possible up to where he is and take out the chains with your scythe." he continued.

"That's it?" Jyn said with a skeptical tone. "How will I know what the signal is?"

Crusoe chuckled lightly. "Trust me, you will."

"Not infuriatingly cryptic in the least."

"You know it."

"Where we gonna wait, anyways?"

He heard Crusoe exhale deeply. "I have an idea, but you won't like it."

"Perfect, lay it on me. I just simply adore plans I won't like."

"You're such a comedian."

"I try my best."

Jyn folded his arms, still aware that he currently was still almost nigh impossible to see. "But seriously," he said. "What's your terrible plan."

"I don't know if you were listening, but I said that you wouldn't like it." Crusoe reminded him.

"Tell me before I change my mind." Jyn grumbled.

"Fine. But keep the complaining to a minimum, yea? Nobody likes a crybaby."

"Shut up, you reference vending-machine."

"Okeee then. I was thinking, if the SkyWings actually captured Leighton, wouldn't Queen Scarlet interrogate him slash torture him or maybe even plan giving him to Burn?"

Jyn rubbed his chin. "I see where you're going with this, but it can wait. As you said, there's going to be a lot of non-targets out and about the palace, and I'd think she'd interrogate him in private, no? She'd look like she finally went off the rails. Hmm. I'll correct that to 'officially'."

Crusoe chuckled. "Yeah, nobody really thought she was subconsciously sane anyways. Or, from what I know, at least."

Jyn sighed. _This is a really bad idea, I know what he's going to ask, just say no._

"So," Crusoe continued quietly. "Wanna spy on the Queen?"

 _Just say no,_ Jyn's conscious sang. _It'll save you the trouble of getting out alive. No 'last-minute daring escapes, no firefights, no contemplating the unexplained, no-_

"Sure." he said, managing a weak smile. " Let's do it."

 **Five minutes later…**

"Are all of the preparations made for our ally and guests of honor?" Queen Scarlet was asking a servant.

"Y-yes your majesty"

"Good. I want this party to be as _thrilling_ as possible."

The servant bowed, then exited the room quickly.

She was obviously over-confident. It's not like she'd pay attention to small details, like how one of the cables attached to her only MudWing prisoner had been severed, or how he actually didn't have venom in his claws like she suspected.

Or that two shadows had slinked silently into the room, and were now eavesdropping on her conversations.

Jyn had been tempted to put his socks on the outside of his shoes. It may sound crazy, but it's actually pretty genius. The socks would make sure his shoes couldn't make noise when they scuffed the floor. "No. Don't do it." Crusoe had warned him. "Their sense of smell is not to be trifled with. They'd know we're coming before we left the hallway. Here," he said, pulling a can of liquid out of his bag silently. "This is usually used for deer hunting, but now's a good a time as ever." He sprayed a light coat of it on himself, then did the same on Jyn. "What is this, water? I can't smell anything." Jyn asked him. "It's a scent-mask. It'll make it so we can't be easily caught by them taking a whiff of the air." Crusoe had said.

Jyn now realized that was probably his best bet for not being detected.

"Alright, my Pip-boy can tell me if we're spotted, so I'll get us to the nearest exit when it starts getting dangerous." Jyn whispered to him before they had entered the room where Queen Scarlet was currently present.

 _Okay, nothing important yet, except saying that Burn will be comfortable. Can't say the same for me at this moment, though._ His muscles were already screaming in pain, feeling like they were trying to escape his skin. _I can hold._ He lied to himself. _No problems._ He considered trying to slow his brain activity, but then remembered he was supposed to be paying attention to what the Queen was saying. He stared at the dragon Queen of the SkyWings, noting small details. _Well, I can get the overconfidence from her dialogue, but what other weaknesses come from that?_

He pondered this until another SkyWing flew into the room, panting and slightly bleeding from multiple wounds. "Report." Queen Scarlet said, flicking her tail dismissively. He hesitated, then spoke up. "We have-Agh!" he clutched one of his wounds, which was slightly something resembling of…

 _A bullet wound._

 _He's confronted someone with a gun._

 _Could it be Leighton?_

 _Or maybe a SkyWing patrol spotted our friends and engaged them…_

 _Listen, report thoughts later, Jyn._

"-Apologies, your majesty." The soldier grunted. "We have encountered a new enemy on the northern front. One unlike- gah! -I have ever seen before."

"Well?" Queen Scarlet grumbled. "Who's joining the war now? The NightWings?"

The soldier shook his head. "They aren't dragons, your majesty. They're...like…. _Scavengers_ , just- I don't know, _bigger_."

The queen laughed. "So what? Are we supposed to send an entire unit just to deal with some scavengers?" her gaze flicked to his wounds, and her eyes narrowed. "Where _exactly_ did you encounter these creatures?"

The soldier shrugged, still clutching his bleeding wound. "I... forgot. But...the one we found, he killed two dragons in our squadron before we could capture him, and now he's requested to see you."

"Requested?" The queen echoed. "He can _speak_?"

He hesitated again. "He had 'weapons', I guess you could call them. But one of them was a ranged weapon unlike anything I've seen in my life."

Jyn noticed he was clutching something wooden in his opposite talons, then realized it was a rifle when he extended his claws to show the queen his find.

The rifle was a bolt-action.

A _.243_ bolt-action, to be specific.

The same rifle Leighton had been carrying when he left.

The queen took the weapon, then told the soldier to go clean himself up and send in some members of his squadron with their prisoner.

Jyn shifted slowly, making almost no noise as he shifted from a crouch to lying on the ground.

He could tell Crusoe had already made that move, because he brushed by him on his way down.

 _Leighton wouldn't reveal our plans._

 _Would he?_

 _I mean, we barely knew him, but he seemed like an honorable guy._

 _Only time can tell, I guess._

Two minutes later, Three SkyWings strolled in, prodding along a figure with spears, who looked oddly calm, to contrary his current status.

 _Leighton,_ Jyn thought, holding in a gasp.

Leighton's clothes were a mess of scratches, everything but his jacket, oddly enough. His jeans were in tatters, and there was a small hole in the top of his tennis shoe. One of his backpack zippers had been dislocated from its track, and was now hanging limply off to his left. He'd been bound in thick cast-iron chains, but was smirking like he could still take on everyone in the room.

"Ah, Queen Scarlet! Just the dragon I was trying to get the honor of meeting." Leighton said, grinning.

Queen Scarlet's face flashed with surprise with a brief second, but she quickly pasted on a bored expression.

"You killed two of my soldiers, all by yourself, correct?" She asked him, a small smile slowly growing at the edges of her mouth.

He looked like he tried to spread his arms, then looked down at his chains, frowning when he remembered his situation. "Oh them? Please excuse that, they attacked first. Plus, I needed to demonstrate my power of course. I can't have the _entire_ squadron die in a futile attempt to kill me. No, I've come here under the flag of decent negotiation." He looked dismissive to fact the soldiers shifted uneasily.

The queen frowned, obviously disappointed by something. "I'll bite. State your business, scavenger, and we'll see if I deem it worthy of my endorsement."

He nodded, grinning. "Of course. It would seem, that you like prisoners for your exalted arena spectacles, no?"

She nodded, still sustaining her somber expression. "Don't test my patience with rhetorical questions."

Leighton dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Of course. Anyways, I also hear that your ally has promised you full control over the long-disputed Great five-tailed river. I _perfectly_ understand your reasoning on this, as well as it's a slightly better alternative." He paused. "But," he raised a finger.

 _Dramatic pause…_

"This _all_ could go into jeopardy, due to a _certain_ prisoner."

Crusoe's side flinched.

 _Is he going to sell out the dragonets?_

Then a small part of him cried; _Before me and Crusoe get to even meet them?_

"I didn't come to this world alone, you know. I came for such reasons:"

"One: I'm a mercenary, and I _was_ tracking three bounties, one of which you have captive, and the other two are nearby or almost apprehended."

 _Huh? I thought he was just an explorer…._

"Two: I have some.. _Unfinished_ business with one of them, and it was my absolute pleasure to come find them. And you may wonder, 'But what are you doing here, In MY palace, claiming you have a business proposition, but giving me a ridiculous story?'. I intend to explain that. You see, these _targets_ weren't alone, and they have some information that could leave you getting kicked off the throne. As do I. But, for the right price, I can _stop_ this terrible future from happening, and you'll happily remain queen for a good many more years. Now for my question: Are you interested?"

Queen Scarlet yawned. "Hmm, I don't know. I personally think it'd be _thrilling_ to see if scavengers from another world would be any more dangerous than the ones here."

Leighton's expression turned from friendly and charismatic to dangerous and forsaking.

"Don't think that simple _iron chains_ can hold me back, Queen of the SkyWings. I am _not_ to be screwed with." To prove his point, a golden light began emitting from underneath his bonds, shatting the links instantly. The three SkyWing soldiers flanking him shied away, angling their spears in his direction.

He folded his arms, frowning. "So, we got a deal?"

The queen grinned, like she found a second champion. "Deal."

"Oh, this is bad, this is very, very, very bad." Crusoe fretted from their hiding place. They had returned to the unguarded window from before.

Jyn agreed. This could be a problem. _Leighton's_ _ **evil**_ _? I never expected that…_

"It was the U.S.C.M." Jyn said, patting his shoulder. "I can tell. That's why they never sent a squad after you, Cuia, and Milo."

Silence passed.

Jyn considered something for a second. "Um, how are you on their wanted list anyways? You aren't exactly the criminal type."

Crusoe's shadow's shoulders slouched, then reached into his cloak and pulled out a white and cyan device, that slightly resembled a matter manipulator. "This," He said, turning it in his hands. "Is an Elemental Manipulator. It draws power from the landscape around it, and disintegrates matter into it's storage. It was still in it's prototype stage, and the U.S.C.M. had bonded with the Terrene Protectorate to make it." He paused, sighing. Then in a tiny voice: "And I took it…"

 _He seems a bit upset about it… why is he sad though? It's not like he does stuff like this all the time...does he? Maybe I should ask him about it._

Jyn cleared his throat. "What'd you leave? I mean, you couldn't live in the Protectorate anymore, so where did you go?"

Crusoe didn't answer. Jyn looked down at Crusoe's shadow and realized he was looking out the window. Crusoe sighed suddenly. "I was.. A _rogue_ , I guess. Had no home, no job, just friends who kept me up. I had nowhere to go, because of people like Leighton chasing me down all the time. I had a crew, but they eventually decided the heat was getting too bad and left me too. All I had was Cuia, Ryder, and Sparkwire, no one else." He sighed again. "And I don't even know if they're safe…."

Jyn kind of wanted to give him a hug now. "I'm sure they're fine. They seemed pretty capable."

A familiar sound sent chills down Jyn's spine, and he noticed Crusoe's shadow did a similar motion. _Footsteps. Someone's coming!_ He pressed himself close to a corner covered in shadows, and felt Crusoe brush up beside him.

The footsteps got closer, and Jyn remembered that this was a palace full of _dragons._

 _It must be Leighton. How does Queen Scarlet trust him enough to let him roam the palace alone? That makes almost no sense…_

Leighton strolled into the room and instantly looked in their direction.

"Ah, one of my targets with...what? A kid from another dimension that I don't have to sign paperwork for because he doesn't technically exist? It must be my lucky day." He smirked, then raised his palm, which now pulsed with yellow-gold energy.

 _Nope. Fuck it._ Jyn drew his scythe and lobbed purple blades at him, grunting after every swing.

Leighton chuckled, then swatted the light constructs aside, shattering them against his palm.

"Ohohoho, please. Light constructs? Are you even trying?" He mocked. Crusoe shimmered into existence. "It's me he wants. Get out of here." He said to Jyn, his voice sounding fragile. Jyn took a step toward the window, then hesitated. Crusoe turned back to him, sounding angry and sad at the same time. "I said GO, DAMMIT!" He blasted Jyn with a blast of ice from his hand, sending him spiraling out the window. _COLD. I need my wings, now!?_ His ghostly wings materialized on his back, glowing. He glided past the arena, seeing that it was almost nighttime, and looked back at the window to see Crusoe vanish in a flash of purple. _Wha-t? Did Leighton do that?_

He felt a slight emptiness fill his chest slowly but surely. _I'll miss him. I hope he's fine...I should go back. But what if I get caught?_

He landed in the arena's spectator seating arrangement, willing his wings to dissipate before he hit the ground.

Jyn then climbed over the seating, gave one long forlorn glance at the window, and leapt toward a specific stone pillar

The one were Milo was currently trying to sleep on, not that it'd come for him.

Yep. I think I got just the tiniest, minuscule amount of 'better' at this.  
It gets better, trust me.  
I mean, I really don't know where I was going with this, but I eventually cleaned up.


	16. Chapter 16

HAHAHA I'M SO STUPID YAY

I changed Inferno's name to Kite for 2 reasons:

A: It freaking sucked

B: Come on, seriously, her name was **hecc** ing overused anyways and that bothered me for some reason.

So here's the next chapter, yeah.

 _ **Milo**_

Milo shifted on the pillar uncomfortably, a sigh escaping his mouth.

"Boooooorred." he moaned.

"Oh, stop your belly-aching already. Some dragons are trying to sleep." Kite grumbled suddenly.

"Nuuuu. I'm not tired." Milo mumbled sleepily.

"Mmh-hmm."

Milo's ears perked up, hearing something new, and almost mechanical. Like a _chink-click-chink._ That's weird, maybe a stray cable or something? He crawled over to the edge of his pillar and looked over, holding back a gasp at who he saw.

 _Chink-click-chink!_

The noise continued for a while, until the figure reached the near top.

Under the figure's white hood was a grimacing face, straining over pulling himself up with a climbing axe. "You know," Jyn grunted. "This would be a lot easier if someone was trying to pull me up."

"Um, yeah, I kinda _can't_." Milo said, raising his shackle-clad talons to prove his point.

"Whoopee…" Jyn groaned under his breath.

Kite opened her eyes again. "I swear, if your going to keep me up-" Her yellow eyes flicked to Jyn, then back to Milo, a slight curiosity igniting behind them with a mix of amusement. "Oh. Well then."

Jyn shivered nervously, reaching the top of the pillar. "Well, charming place you have here…" he muttered, staring at the utter smallness of the space. He crept over and sat beside Milo, pulling his knees in. "So," he said. "You gonna introduce me or…"

A light giddy feeling erupted in Milo's chest. Jyn was here! He could get everyone out alive, probably kill any guards in the way and…

His gaze flicked toward Jyn, who looked almost saddened by something.

 _I'll get it out of him somehow._ He thought optimistically.

"Right." he said finally. "The SkyWing on my left is Kite, who _still_ hasn't told me what she's in for, and the SandWing on my right is-"

"Sidewinder, right?" Jyn interrupted.

"Hmm. Yeah." Milo finished, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Sooooooo, how's life?" He asked curiously.

Jyn sighed with a glance that drifted off toward a window on the palace, then ending with a wince. "Treating me like a doormat." he mumbled.

"What was that glance for?"

"What glance?"

"That glance, the one at the window. Did something happen? Something I need to know about?" Milo asked, with a slight hint of suspicion increasing in his tone. Maybe someone got hurt. Or worse, caught.

"Uh...no, It's nothing." he said guiltily.

"Uh-huh."

His face turned red. "It isn't! Just...let me get you out of here."

Milo shook his head. "Nope. Not until you explain why you look like someone stole your biscuits."

Jyn glared at him angrily, before his face went back to a sad and solemn expression.

"I didn't come alone." he said quietly. "Crusoe. Crusoe came with me. We found out Leighton, the random guy we picked up, was actually manipulating us the whole time. He came here to get you, Cuia, and Crusoe. He's probably in it with the U.S.C.M., and it shouldn't be long before they either trap us here, or worse, initiate a full-scale invasion."

He exhaled sharply. "Crusoe and I were caught in the palace, shortly after Leighton made a deal with Scarlet to preserve her rule.

I-I'm scared. I think Crusoe sees it, and he's scared too. If this information gets to Scarlet, about her future fall, it could affect all the previous events that Crusoe described. Many more of these dragons will _die_ to this war if Scarlet remains in power." He shook his head, worry written brisk on his face.

Milo rubbed his head. "Woah. I missed out on _alot_. Well, if you really need me, I won't leave."

He swiveled his head to look at Sidewinder, and then Kite, who was listening to the conversation with an incredulous look on her face.  
"Not without these guys."

 _Later…_

After multiple slashes with a magic weapon of death, Milo, Kite, and Sidewinder all had taken off, without a single guard _or prisoner_ noticing.  
"They probably never found Crusoe! Leighton must've warned Scarlet of him, and she decided to focus security on the internals of the palace!" Jyn yelled into the wind.

Milo nodded.

"I can't explain the prisoner's lack of wariness though. That was just luck, I guess."

Kite flew up beside Milo. "Where to?"  
"Huh? You're coming with us?"

She nodded. "I figure I kinda owe you anyways. And I also have pretty much nowhere to go."

"Oh, right."

Jyn was dangling from Milo's front talons, swaying back and forth surprisingly peaceful manner.  
 _Oh, right. With his wings, I guess he'd have to be used to heights._

Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed that Sidewinder had also continued following him.  
 _Hmm. Wonder what his reason for following is…_

They remained silent until they stopped flying.

They eventually landed within where the borders between the Kingdoms of Sky and Sea meet, which is what Jyn had elaborated upon looking at his weird apple watch 1000 gadget.

"Um, We may have missed them." Jyn said quietly, scratching his head.

He turned a knob, while a few beeping noises sounded correspondingly. "Yeah, yeah, we missed them." He said.

"Well then where are they?" Sidewinder asked, climbing over a peculiarly large stump.

Jyn jerked a thumb west without looking up. "Back that way."  
Milo loomed over his shoulder, reading the onscreen map. "But that's back towards the palace."

Jyn nodded slowly. "We should be able to reach them though, with the modified comm." He turned around, looking at Milo expectantly.

'"Oh right, that." He reached under his wing, and then a blank expression washed over his face as he pulled his talons back out, empty.

"I _might_ have lost it."

"I can see that." Jyn replied crossly.

Milo chuckled nervously. "You...have a spare one…..right?"

Jyn sighed, then pulled a silver-gray comm out of his ear.

"You got lucky."

"Just call them already." Milo growled.

"Fine, okay,"

He pressed a few buttons on the device, then slipped it back into his ear.

"Hello?"

A moment of silence.

Jyn sighed slightly, probably finally getting a response.

"Um, no. Not exactly." He said, glancing back at Sidewinder and Kite.

"Well, kind of. We left in a hurry, and by daylight we realized we went the wrong way. Can you guys come to us? I'm not sure…" he broke off.  
"No, i just don't think that the other two dragons we rescued will want to go in a two-mile radius."

He paused, grinning. "Yes, because of PTSD."

Jyn covered the comm's mic. "You hear that Milo? Cuia says you have PTSD!"

Milo covered his eyes, obviously not impressed.

"Uh-huh. You'll have to come to us. And make it snappy. We don't exactly have a lot of time."  
Milo glanced up at the moons, nodding.

"Fine. We'll meet you halfway. Kay', bye."

He turned around, rolling his shoulders. "I'm gonna try to contact Crusoe, I'll be done in a minute." he began wandering away, muttering to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Milo sat down, curling his tail around his front legs.

Sidewinder came over and sat beside him, close to mimicking his pose.

He leaned in close to Milo's ear.

"Do you think I have a chance?"

Milo turned to look at him. "Huh?"

Sidewinder jerked his head at the slumbering form of Kite, blushing.

"Oh." Milo smirked.

Sidewinder looked slightly embarrassed, his tail twitching uncontrollably. "Well?"

"Huh. I dunno. You guys would be pretty cute though."

He said, scratching his chin and then laughing.

Milo stopped laughing. "I guess you'll just have to try. You're pretty likeable."

"Ha. Thanks, I guess."

Milo nodded, staring up at the moons and _still_ wondering why there were three.

 _Maybe...huh. Maybe, this is actually earth. Just...another version. I heard that when the Earth was still pretty new it was hit by a Mars-sized planet. Perhaps the impact did a bit more damage here, which would explain how small this continent is, and why there's three moons. The planet, in this variable, possibly smashed more debris off then it did in several separate timelines, resulting in all of *this*. A good theory, I guess._

Milo smiled a bit at the sight of Kite snoring peacefully, remembering how she'd been the one telling him to go to sleep.

He noticed Sidewinder looked at her with an expression he really couldn't read, like…

A mix of confusion, longing, and possibly a bit of happiness, possibly. Maaaaaybe?

 _Still,_

The silence was broken by Jyn crashing through the bushes, panting hard with exhaustion.

He had several cuts on his arms and legs, including one across his cheek.

He stopped, heaving and resting with his hands on his knees.

"We've got…." he wheezed. "Two problems."

Milo's ears pricked up as his head rose. "Yeah?"

"The U.S.C.M. had ninjas…..and Crusoe's been captured."

" _Had_ ninjas?" Milo echoed.

Jyn nodded, his lips parting in a small grin. " _Had_." He confirmed.

"Who's Crusoe again?" Sidewinder asked.

"Another friend." Milo replied, flicking his tail. "We need to try getting him out of there."

Sidewinder stepped back a few steps, shaking his head in fear. "N-no. I don't want to. I don't want to-" He gulped. "-Go back."

Milo rolled his eyes, letting Jyn climb on his back. "You can _stay_ , we need someone to watch after Kite anyways."

Sidewinder's shoulders relaxed, and he sat down with a relieved expression. "Oh. That's fine with me…" he glanced off at Kite again.

"Okay. Don't go anywhere, and don't get in any fights. Got it?"

Sidewinder nodded quickly in total agreement.

"Okay," Milo sighed, "We'll be back."

Milo then dipped his head, then used his wings to launch him and Jyn into the sky, rapidly approaching what they didn't even know could possibly be their doom.

PFFFT


	17. Chapter 17

**Crusoe**

 _Well this fucking sucks._

Crusoe pounded his gauntleted fist against the wall, resulting in small cracks spider-webbed where it had impacted.

 _Stupid Leighton,_

Boom.

 _Stupid Scarlet,_

BOOM.

 _Stupid SkyWings,_  
 **BOOM** _ **.**_

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid…_

He fell backwards, landing on his rear. "Gahh…." He rubbed his head. _Okay, I really have to stop trying to kill myself._

Upon observing his handiwork, he figured it take at least two days to punch through all the stone walls, let alone the steel door.

He'd already tried that, and _damn_ , dragon fire must make some seriously good metal, because there wasn't as much as a scratch.

Conserving his strength, that's where'd he'd go.

With enough energy, he could slow time for at least an hour. Then he'd just have to punch the door as fast as he could, generating enough force into the door that'd it'd collapse.

 _Well, I could try…_

 _Another idea._

He glanced down at his gauntlet, lighting it ablaze.

 _Could I melt the door?_  
The thought made him curious, as he'd never tried melting solid steel before. And this would be all the more resistant, having being forged by the tribe he knew had the hottest fire temperature.

 _Maybe._

He stood up, walking to the door. It had no windows, so he listened for sounds of life on the other side.

 _Nothing._

Just as he pressed his hand on the door, it swung open.

Crusoe cried out in surprise, swinging at Leighton, who then swatted his attack aside and blasted him to the other corner of the room.

"Tsk-tsk, Byron. You know better."  
 _Haven't heard that name in a while,_ Crusoe thought grimly.

Leighton leaned against the door, letting a small orb of light roll around his fingers.

"I must say," He said. "I never really intended to _side_ with _Scarlet_ , of all dragons."

The ball of light dissipated.

"I really thought, too, that you'd possibly be the greatest threat I ever encountered, in all of my jobs." he said sadly.

"Guess I was _wrong_."

Leighton shook his head disapprovingly.

"You might want to stop punching that wall. It goes to open air, so…"

Crusoe grunted, using the wall to stand up.

"And because for what happens tomorrow, you'll need as much strength as you can get."

 _What? What is he…_

 _No. No way, NO._

"Because, you'll be in the arena tomorrow, fighting…"

Leighton paused.

"Who am I kidding, you already know."

He did.

 _I won't do it though. They're the good guys, I'm pretty much nobody._

 _Right?_

"What's wrong? Speechless? That's a first."

Crusoe laughed. "Quoting Tucker now? Wow, I seriously had hoped we had less in common with taste. No. I'm being silent. I know what I need to do."

Leighton chuckled. "Sure you do. That's why you ran into a SkyWing who was _sleeping_ on the job."

Crusoe clenched his fists, his face feeling hot,.

 _I will END YOU._  
Leighton smirked triumphantly, closing the door as he left.

The door opened a crack.

"See you in hell!" Leighton called.

The steel door slid shut, a lock sliding in soon after.


	18. Chapter 18

**Jyn**

"Are you sure about this?" Jyn yelled over then wind.

"Absolutely! All you have to get right is the timing!" Milo called.

"And not getting caught." Jyn said, poking Milo accusingly.

"That too."

They rapidly approached the palace, after narrowly escaping the vision of all of the nightly patrols by diving into the trees.

 _I bet they don't even know that three dragons already escaped._ Jyn thought.

It was when they were about a quarter of a mile away from the palace when they had been spotted.

How did they know when they'd been caught?  
"PRISONER ESCAPE, PRISONER ESCAPE! ALL GUARDS SECURE THE PRISONERS!"

 _What!? HOW?_

Milo growled. "This just got a whole lot more interesting."

Jyn nodded, patting his back.

"We'll just have to make no mistakes."

Around thirteen SkyWings covered in armor were rocketing in their direction, fire spewing out of their angry, gaping maws, and spears that looked like with one hit it could be his very end.

Jyn unslung his rifle, popping a butterscotch candy in his mouth.

"Fuck the timeline, these bitches are _dead._ "

Milo roared in agreement, flames dancing around the outsides of his mouth as the wind pushed it back towards his throat.

Jyn rolled the butterscotch candy around his mouth with his tongue, loading a round into the rifle's chamber.

 _Click-chock._

The lead dragon's head came into view, the retricle of the scope dead center aimed for his skull.

 _Kill all sons of bitches._

Jyn pulled the trigger, letting the shot echo through the night.

The lead dragon's body went limp, falling out of the sky, just like the discarded bullet casing from Jyn's rifle as he reloaded.

 _Dead._

Another shot, another dragon killed.

 _Bang._

A dragon with a helm received a bullet through her eye, killing her instantly.

 _Bang._

A dragon with a spear screamed as his wing stopped working, a 7.62 round pierced through it.

 _Bang. Click-clack. Bang._

One of them had just been disarmed, then received a bullet to the throat.

A roar echoed from somewhere nearby, as he was knocked off Milo's back.

"WOAH, YAAAAAAA.."

His wings suddenly activated, leaving him enough time for him to catch his rifle and sling it back over his shoulder.

 _What-what was I DOING?_ He realized.

 _I just- no, save it. Crusoe needs us._

He straightened, flying as fast he could toward the palace, lit alight with guards brimming at every corner, brought out by the Anti-material rifle shots.

 _I hate myself so much right now._

Jyn screamed in rage, unsheathing his shortsword he'd never used, and swinging his scythe off off his shoulder.

The dragons bellowed in retaliation, war cries sounding from all sides.

 _Heh. I'll see you in hell._

And with that, he engaged in a battle, body wreathed in fire and all weapons pointed at him.

Somewhere, his only friends watched the battle take place from a safe distance, one they wished wasn't so far.

And somewhere, a god watched a light snuff out.

And then, Jyn Samuels, Wasteland Wanderer, Technology Genius, Master Rifleman, vanished.


	19. Chapter 19

**Milo**

Milo dug his claws into the throat of his attacker, forcing their claws away from his face as they clawed at thin air.

He finished them by lighting them on fire, sending them for the ground, screaming.

And that's when he heard it.

Another scream, more of one in rage, and fear.

One that made his blood run cold.

That scream was _Jyn's_.

 _No._

 _No no no no no, he didn't._

But he knew he did. The guards covering the palace were roaring in rage, anger and hatred, vocalized for the one who had just killed some of their brethren.

"Jyn, NO!"  
He let off a burst of speed, his fear providing him adrenaline.

 _No no no no…_

Smoke began curling off his wings, he felt...significantly _weaker_.

 _What? Why am I-_

Suddenly, in a flash of light, he was transformed back into regular, old, Milo.

Milo, with no wings.

Milo, in thin air.

Milo, now falling to earth, wishing he's tested his limits more.

"SON OF A BIIIIIIIIITCH!"

He fell towards the ground, hoping whatever he landed on, it'd either be soft, or at least kill him instantly.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAHAHAH!"

He continued falling, punching the bracelet.

"WORK DAMMIT!" He slammed his fist into it again, remembering to think about what he wanted to become.

But with a _slight_ variation.

In a flash, he was a dragon once more.

He looked how close he was to the ground, skimming above the tops of the trees.

 _I about just became a Milo-pancake._

His back stiffened. _What was tha-_

He was suddenly slammed by an immense force, sending him somersaulting through the air.

 _OW. Who in the- LEIGHTON!_  
He straightened himself, continuing his path to the palace, then using to wall to make a direct turn.

Leighton was standing at the top of one of the towers, yellow-gold light pouring out of his palms, and boy, he did _not_ look happy.

"Ah, Milo. Just who I was looking for."

Without any telltale signs, he blasted two bursts of hard light into Milo, causing him to falter.

Milo gritted his teeth. _How does LIGHT hurt, but almost being smashed into the ground hurt like being tickled?_

Milo strafed around the side of the tower, narrowly avoiding one of Leighton's enraged blasts.

He came around the other side, surprising Leighton and grabbing him, restraining his power-abundant arms away from him.

Leighton smiled casually underneath him, as Milo was looking down on him with rage and hatred.

"What are you going to do, Operator Milo? Take me as a prisoner? Interrogate me? Do you think you'll get very far?"

 _No. It wouldn't do us any good._ He thought dubiously.

"No."

"Are you going to kill me then? I'll warn you, I don't die easy."

"I can try."

With that, Milo flew straight for a random tower, still hearing cries of enraged and fighting dragons, still occupied with Jyn…

 _He's going to die…_

 _And it's probably somehow my fault._

He roared, slamming Leighton's rigid body into the wall.

Then again.

And again.

The wall shattered like hot glass, the sharp stone rubble cutting into Milo's scales.

He ignored it.

He threw Leighton into the wall, growling. "It's your fault. All of it. Jyn's going to DIE because you decided to go all mercenary. I am going to kill you."

Leighton chuckled, sounding like his lungs were full of dust, which they probably were.

"Alright! _This_ is the kind of person I expected you to be! A soldier! A killer, bred for destruction and massacre, to feel pain and make nothing of it. Strike me down. I deserve a soldier's death."

 _Do it! He's a monster! He'll…._

 _No...It won't make me any better than him. I wouldn't stop killing._

A sudden ripple of realization flowed through him.

 _This is where the other version of me went wrong. He killed Leighton in that timeline, and Jyn somehow survived, but it still pushed him over the edge._

"No." He replied. "I won't go there. It'll make me worse, far beyond a person i could recognize as myself. If you really want to die, you can kill yourself."

Leighton spat out a glob of blood, laughing maniacally.

"Then DIE!"

(Palpatine, NO.)

Milo's eyes widened, just before he felt a stinging pain in his skull, weightlessness, and then he lost consciousness.


	20. Chapter 20

**Crusoe**

 _Whump-whump-whump._

The steel door slid open.

 _Huh?_

Leighton walked through, only one of his hands alight. The other was in a cast.

Crusoe eyed the cast suspiciously, thinking it was probably a trick to fool him into letting his guard down.

Crusoe looked down and noticed one of his legs was in a makeshift bracer.

 _Hmm. Maybe not. A bracer's a bit overkill._

Leighton grunted.

"I see you noticed my injuries. Compliments of your friends, who are both dead."

 _What? No no no, Who? Who's dead?_

"Milo and Jyn, if you're wondering."

 _No...he's-He's just messing with me, they HAVE to be alive, they have to be._

 _He's just messing with me, definitely._

He pushed that thought away, but it still stuck behind at the back of his mind, constantly nagging, bringing down his morale.

"If I were you, I wouldn't try any funny business, last-minute-escapes, and the lot. Guards have been issued to come pick you up, and they have orders to shove a spear down your neck the second you retaliate in any way."

 _Oh great. I'm going to end up being eaten alive because i didn't want to die from 'resisting'._

Crusoe continued glaring at him, still aware that even _if_ Milo and Jyn hadn't fallen, Leighton had still _tried_ to kill them.

"Aaaaanywaaaays," Leighton continued. "You should get ready for your fight in the arena. I've told Scarlet _great_ things about you, so she expects much. And don't worry-"

He walked towards the door, holding it half-open.

"-You can have your sword when the time comes."

And with that, Crusoe was left in total silence.

For the first time in a long time, Crusoe felt like crying.

He pounded the wall, feeling tears brimming in his eyes.

"No…."

He covered his eyes. "I can't do it. I just can't. I can't go on. I've come this far… but…"

His voice broke, just as his will had.

"Why…." he sobbed.

He continued crying, his tears coating his cloak, which had run out of batteries.

"Why me…"

He pounder the wall again, his arms feeling weaker every single second as he gave into his emotions.

"...carry on, my wayward son…"

"...there'll be peace when you are done."

"...lay your weary head to rest…."

"...don't you cry no more."

 _Where….who..._

(Hell, even I don't know who's singing...YET)

Crusoe was done.

Done running. Done hiding.

He'd hid from everything that came his way, the U.S.C.M., his old life, his mind, and Leighton.

He'd hid from his parents, getting them killed. He'd hid from his brother, who disappeared a week later.

He'd hid his feelings. He never thanked Cuia for helping his since they were twelve. He never said how much he appreciated Sparkwire and Ryder for sticking around.

He never admitted his feelings to Terri.

No.  
Crusoe was done.

I won't be broken. I will not get beaten. I'll get strong, not weaker.

I will overcome.

His left hand suddenly felt lighter, as light as...his right…?

His right hand is the hand with the gauntlet.

Crusoe looked down as his left hand, the shock written all over his face.

Without him noticing, his gauntlet had completed it's transformation.

His left hand was covered in a matching gauntlet, all with new minerals imprinted in it.

All with new power.

And with new power…

Comes the downfall of a tyrant.

How….

I'll figure it out later.

Time to figure out what i have in my arsenal.

Leighton, Scarlet, Horsemen,

I won't be running this time.

Hope you like cardio.


	21. Chapter 21

**Cuia**

"I'm going to miss them. Both of them." Jake said sadly, his visor having shifted to black and emotionless.

Yes, Jake's hiding his feelings.

Cuia lit the pyre, wiping away a tear when nobody was looking. They had fashioned a funeral pyre out of pine and some flowers, laying some pictures of both Milo and Jyn on top of the wreath of wildflowers at the bottom.

"May they find peace, when it never came to them in life." he said, his voice cracking.

Terri had gone silent for eight hours now, not eating, but still drinking.

Her eyes looked like her soul had every bit of life carved out of it, her feathers in disarray, some peeking out from under the top layer of her feathers, while there were assorted leaves caught in them.

But Nathan had taken the worst of it.

Everyone had to hold him down, eventually knocking him unconscious.

He's spent the past few hours sobbing, and had never really recovered, being extremely emotional when asked about it.

Zazilie and Arc had apparently decided to not focus on the topic, probably guessing it wasn't a good idea to ask about it.

Cuia, being the first person who'd made friends with him, was feeling destroyed about Milo's death, which he himself witnessed through binoculars.

 _I'll miss him. Milo, why did you do it? You needed us, needed me._

He coughed, wiping more tears away.

 _We could have helped you, and you..._

 _I'll miss you, old friend._

 _You won't go unavenged._

He looked over at Nathan, who was having similar thoughts about Jyn while wiping his cheek.

 _We'll make sure of it._

Cuia cleared his throat.

"Alright. I get it, they're gone."

Everyone was looking at him with surprised expressions, startled at his sudden brisk attitude.

"But we won't let them go unavenged. We're taking the fight to the SkyWings. Even though there may be innocents-"

He glanced at Nathan.

"-Victory doesn't come without sacrifice."

Nathan nodded, fire flickering in his eyes.

"Jake, you'll be on the rear. Make sure nothing gets through."

Jake straightened, his visor glowing orange as he shouldered his shotgun. "I'm a man on fire."

"Good. Terri, you'll be making sure nothing gets too close." he gestured to her spear.

"How far does that thing go?"

A pillar of flame shot out of it, going at least eleven feet in the air. A signal for 'Far enough.'

"Great. Nathan, you're in the front. You know what to do."

Nathan twirled his sword, fire at his fingertips. "I'll be pressing. I know."

Cuia sighed, looking at Arc and Zazilie.

"Uh, you guys can uh, do whatever suits you."

Arc spun his revolver on one of his talons. "Oh. Okay. Hey, do you want to help them, or should we find a way out of here? I mean, it's your choice, really. I kinda...have to come with you…" he asked Zazilie, looking up at the dragon-like Lastian.

 _Riiiiiiight. Sure, crazy loverboy._

 _Whatever they choose, I hope it's the right choice. Jake does have something that can take them back, I'm sure._

 _Oh boy._

 _Here goes everything._


	22. Chapter 22

**Sparkwire**

*System: Checking in…*

*Handshaking…*

*Subject :"Agent Sparkwire"*

*Status…*

*Status: Active*

*First-person perspective capture recall: Beginning*

Hello.

I am Sparkwire.

Agent Sparkwire.

Humored. Usually I introduce myself to human organisms this way to further relate to agents in their entertainment and culture.

Rueful. As you can see, I am speaking fluently as one of my species, stating my emotion of the sentence before I engage in vocal contact. I'm "just clearing things up", as other sentient species say.

Bored. Let's begin, shall we?

Distant. So, as me, Ryder, and Nick maintained the ship, the others in our group had left in an expedition to go rescue allies Milo and Jyn, in turn getting caught up in the realm's primary historical storyline.

Foreboding. But, the rest of the crew faced bigger problems.

 _*Relaying untampered recording*_

Ryder was sleeping in a cot on the opposite side of the room, his helmet over his glowing gas-like form. He had spent the previous night maintaining the ships onboard weapons, staying up for a cycle of 17 hours.

Nick was busy helping as much places as he could, using his peculiar bodily fusion with the element of electricity to repair damaged ship systems.

It was during this where we encountered our first issue.

I (Sparkwire) was busy monitoring our ship's radar systems at the moment.

This was also when my speech processor worked correctly, and I could speak english fluently, without having to state my intentions.

 _*Recording playback: Starting*_

"All hands, our ship has encountered a U.S.C.M. attack craft, Type S. All hands, brace for incoming bombardment." I said, holding the ship's intercom microphone up to my facial audio relays.

(God, I didn't know making up fake components was so _fun_ )

On one of the ships cameras, Ryder fell out of his hammock.

He rubbed his head, straightened his helmet, then clutched it tightly as he sprinted toward the hallway.

Nick had already arrived in the cockpit when Ryder opened the door, huffing with dight wisps of gas flowing out of his face.

I had always questioned Nick's wings ever since he had joined our faction, being composed of organic wood and leaves, and still being alive on his body, somehow fused with him on a supernatural level. The wings were _alive_. He referred to them as "Leaf wings", as imaginative as that is.

(Yes, I realized the odd coincidence just as WoF book 11 came out. I laughed, then hoped nobody would start asking if I had attached a Rambo-tree dragon to his back.)

Back to the matter at hand.

The S class vessel had began firing, bolts of superheated plasma bashing into our _Condor_ class freighter.

"Son of a-" Another explosion cut him off. "These guys _really_ hate Cuia."

I swiveled my seat in a 230-degree angle. "Indeed. They are afraid of his value to the New Expanse system's rebellion. He delivered a significantly powerful weapon called "Mjolnir powered armor" that racked quite a K/D with a certain female soldier named Moria." I said, stiffly turning the ship towards the orbited planet.

"What are you...huh?" Nick mumbled, rubbing his wrists.

"I'm initiating a forced crash-landing." I stated firmly, pressing a button that ignited the rear thrusters into full outtake capacity.

"Uh, what?" Ryder said, suddenly paying attention to the conversation.

"Ryder, if I repeated my previous statement, it would insult your intelligence."

"Quiet, robot."

The ship alarms began blaring, as the three of us in the cockpit ignored it.  
Coltrane, Cuia's first mate, came bursting in.

"The ship's going down! What are you doing in here!? IS THIS SOMEHOW YOUR FAULT?" He yelled, pointing an empty scotch bottle at me accusingly.

"No. We were under attack, so I took self preservation measures and began a forced controlled crash-landing." I replied simply.

Nick looked at Ryder with a helplessly lost expression, in which Ryder just spread his palms and shook his head.

"Oh. And this is...good?" Coltrane asked confusedly, lowering the bottle.

"Correct. This ship is built to withstand almost limitless amounts of planetary impacts, preserving our lives for a long enough time to prepare to defend against the U.S.C.M. ground assault."

Atsuko walked in. "Ground assault?"

"Yes. The U.S.C.M. is deploying troops as we speak. Now, we must-"

 _*Capture: End*_


	23. Chapter 23

**Crusoe**

 _Set the world on fire,_

 _See the Earth alight._

 _Watch it crumble._

 _Watch it fall._

 _Set the world on fire,_

 _And burn it to the ground._

 _Burn it to the ground…._

-Audiomachine, _Warrior's song_.

Crusoe was ready.

Ready for war.

And he wasn't taking it to who he was fighting in the arena, he figured he'd try to reason with them.

 _Well, I guess I can only hope that Tsunami and Starflight don't think they're going insane from the heat off the sand, resulting in them believing they're hallucinating, killing me._

 _Nevermind,_ He thought, looking at his newly added gauntlet. _I won't go down that easy._

He had tested them all earlier, all five of his new abilities to his arsenal.

Listing them off by color, a triangular turquoise stone, a dark green spherical one, a black-and white one in the center, a translucent white one, and a murky yellow rectangular stone, all brimming with powers he'd tested previously.

 _He tried to keep me down, but I just got higher._

Crusoe spread his metal-clad palms, examining them in wonder.

 _I can stop Scarlet with these._

 _I could maybe...even end the SandWing civil war the tribes got dragged into._

 _I can do anything._

 _Perhaps I'll-_

 _ **Scraaaape.**_

The steel door opened, three iron-clad SkyWings all glaring down at him.

"Huh. Doesn't look so dangerous." One muttered instantly.

Just to contradict that last comment, Crusoe channeled two of his original stones power into either palm.

 _Good old Ferozium and Solarium._

 _Fire at my fingertips, I won't be told to chill._

The SkyWing flinched when Crusoe's palms both ignited into flame and began flowing out billows of frost simultaneously.

"You were saying?" another muttered.

"Let's just kill him. We'll say he tried to resist us taking him down to the arena." the third whispered.

Crusoe willed his abilities to dissipate, then slapped himself in the forehead. "I can understand you, stupid. I don't go down easily."

 _Especially after the latest improvement._

Two of them stared at him in shock, as the third acted as if this was perfectly normal.

 _That's their commanding officer. I can tell._

"Um, yeah. Okay… Can you just uh, come with us, _peacefully?_ " The first one asked timidly.

Crusoe shrugged, walking towards the door as the guards parted, angling their gnarly-tipped spears at his back.

They took him out of the tower, and at that moment he heard something he'd expected, for once.

A confused crowd.

"BOOOOOooo?" and not to mention, "Awwwww."

Crusoe swayed in the wind as two of the three dragons carried him by either arm, as their superior officer brought up the rear.

 _Leighton's not with Scarlet in the queen's spectating box,_ He observed.

 _She probably didn't want him to make Burn feel uncomfortable._ He continued, shuddering once he noticed the rippling, fearsome SandWing Princess.

 _Uh-oh. I don't see Glory either. That's...terrifying._

" **Dragons, I'll have to ask you to humor us for a moment."** a voice boomed.

The crowd gradually went silent.

" **I'm sure you heard about the freak NightWing's assault on the castle that happened last night,"** The voice continued, as voices in the audience chattered in agreement and shock.

The dragons holding Crusoe stopped in mid air, obviously waiting for the speaker's dramatic reveal.

 _No, not a 'speaker'. I think it should be...uh, hold on. That prince guy...Vermillion! Right!_

" **Yes, so terrible. Well, to comfort you, a secret operative took care of him, so we're all safe. Which brings me to my next point. The NightWing had some very...** _ **peculiar**_ **allies, and we found one sneaking around in the castle."**

 _Hmm. Leighton must believe he actually killed Milo. Well. I guess all I can do now is hope he's wrong..._

"BLOOOOOOOD!" Some of the audience cried.

 _Huh. Nicely put, Vermillion. Don't worry, you'll only have a slight concussion._

" **Fighting these two 'Dragonets of destiny' at once, Crusoe the Scavenger!"**

 _Huh, Leighton must have told him and Scarlet my name. Darn_.

He held back a chuckle at Burn becoming incredibly outraged at Scarlet , who was brushing her off with an expression that only said that it was a chore for her.

The crowd went silent, not expecting this at all.

 _Hah.I bet nobody expected little old me to crash this murder-fest, eh?_

The two guards dropped him into the arena.

He managed the landing, hitting the ground almost soundlessly.

A few moments later, a blinding reflective object shined, traveling near him and landing with a _Shink!_

 _Hmm._ He grabbed his broadsword, pulling it's hilt out of the ground.

" **Claws up, Weapons ready, fight!"**

 _Huh?_

He looked up to see Tsunami already barreling toward him, thinking he wasn't any different than a normal scavenger from this world.

Crusoe readied his sword.

 _Alright, I can't wound them terribly. I can try reasoning with them mid-combat though._

Tsunami lunged at him quickly, almost hitting him with her outstretched talons.

Almost.

Channeling one of his new stones, he'd just disappeared from her talon's reach, teleporting on the other side of her.

She stared at her empty claws, dumbfounded.

 _Turquoise stone, blink-dash._

He chuckled, then backed away from her, still remembering Starflight existed.

 _Where are you, you nerdy dragon…_

He rolled out of the way of Starflight's flames, hearing the hissing pressurized sound of him bringing out his fire.

Crusoe sighed.

 _Well, just like the books said. He overthinks everything._

Crusoe blasted him back with a non-lethal blast of ice, wary of Tsunami circling him.

Starflight was sent somersaulting backwards as Queen Scarlet cackled in delight.

"Now _this_ is thrilling!" she exclaimed.

Tsunami roared, trying to dispatch Crusoe with her massive jaws as Starflight came from behind, readying his flaming breath for another go.

 _Ah...shit._

Both dragons converged their attacks at once, sure that this would be his end.

Tsunami recoiled, having been sent backwards by her own kinetic energy. "AHH! WHAT?"

Starflight's fire hadn't touched Crusoe either.

The dust cleared, and in the middle was Crusoe, finally breaking a sweat, in the center of a yellow bubble-shield.

The crowd cheered, as well as a few "oohs and "ahhs.

Starflight halted his stream of flames, tilting his head curiously. "Woah. Scavengers can do that? Maybe...they can be animus-imbued too?"

Crusoe chuckled, letting the shield fade away.

"Mmh. Good theory, but wrong, sadly."

Starflight didn't answer, his expression beyond lost. "W-what? Did it just-" he said aloud.

"KILL EACH OTHER ALREADY!" Scarlet bellowed.

Tsunami had successfully snuck up on Crusoe, grabbing both his legs and dangling him upside-down above her open maw.

"Gah! What the-"

 _She's going to bite my head off!?_

He heard the crowd cheering, cheering for death.

 _Hmm. This isn't that bad of a chance._

He stared into Tsunami's wild, combat-swallowed eyes.

And smiled.

"Hi Tsunami."

"AAHHH, HOLY-" She flung him away, reeling.

Crusoe frowned, flying through the air.

Just before hitting the arena sands, he tucked and rolled, transferring his inertia to a more calm state.

"It just- He just-" She stared at him, her jaw opening and closing as Starflight sat down, clutching his forehead.

 _I guess…_

 _I guess I should have saw this coming._

Scarlet was enraged by this sudden lack of combat.

"Alright, SEND IN THE SCAVENGERS."

 _Why am I not surprised she's this edgy in real life?_

Two guards rolled out a large wooden cage, full of people with swords shouting wat cries and some trying to hide in the back of the cage.

Vermillion nodded to one of the guards, who in turn unlatched the cage.

 _Tsunami and Starflight are still a bit confused from my encounter with them. They might hesitate to fight any attacking scavengers for the rest of the fight. That wouldn't be very smart to let them die, soooo…_

Four tribal-looking warriors scrambled out, all with that adrenaline-filled expression that some would consider insane as they jabbed their crude swords in the air.

Crusoe readied his sword, the blade angling directly from his face, as he held the hilt near his neck.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one headed for Tsunami, who began backing away and not engaging in the audience's much-wanted combat.

"BOOOOOOO!"

"Come on, they're SCAVENGERS! KILL THEM!"

"Bite all their heads off!"

"Give me one!"

 _Wow, classic SkyWings._

Two of the other warriors began circling Crusoe, muttering something about how they claimed his sword or clothes as spoils when he died.

 _So that's how it's gonna be._

 _One female, and one male. I can take em'._

 _From what I remember, it was two women that were the biggest problem. I think this is one of them, maybe the other's going for- Oh shoot, Starflight._

The man, coated in strange red-and-blue paint streaks and some mitch-matched leather and metal armor pieces, attacked first.

The man kinda looked like… a _viking_. Just, probably not, probably a barbaric tribal warrior.

He swung his blade at Crusoe's kneecap, resulting in a jarring block from Crusoe's refined durasteel blade.

The man appeared to be a bit impressed, and slightly annoyed. The woman, with similar markings to the man, except she had beads in her hair, bellowed then slashed at Crusoe's face wildly, forcing him to use another new ability. Her sword shattered into a million pieces mid-swing, leaving her with a crude, bladeless, hilt.

 _Translucent stone, some kind of shattering frequency._

She stared at the handle in surprise, leaving enough time for Crusoe to bash her in the the face with his own, perfectly intact hilt.

The male charged at him, with no particular strategy, or at least, if there was, Crusoe didn't recognise it.

Crusoe used his abilities again, appearing behind him and slamming him in the back of the neck.

 _Gotta...stop them._

A bead of sweat trickled into his eye, the salt stinging his vision, causing him to stumble blindly.

Behind him, the tribal woman had recovered, and she kicked him in the back of his knee, causing him to fall.

"Yow! What in the HELL lady?"

He rolled backwards over his shoulder, shooting a few quick glances in Tsunami's and Starflight's directions.

Starflight was currently struggling to land a single blow on the scavenger he was facing, but Tsunami had already smashed her tiny adversary into the arena wall, snapping it's spine.

 _Okay, Tsunami will probably help him out._

He quickly blocked a blow to his right from the man, then kicked him in the gut, sending him back down.

"Yikes, who'd known reading so much Batman would come in handy?"

The woman threw her hilt at him, then bent her knees to get into a defensive stance.

 _Oh, come and get some. I did wrestling for eight years._

She dove at his legs suddenly, just before he instinctively sprawled, landing his elbow in her back.

He planted her face in the dirt, forgetting about the man, who had gotten up behind him.

 _And now I frame the face, leading to…_ (The move he was doing was oddly named the Cow-catcher. Hmm. Yes, I have done wrestling for eight years. It does wonders.)

The man slashed a line into Crusoe's back, leading to him recoiling and yelling in pain.

 _AHH! Son of a bitch!_

 _Hold on, one before the other._

He slammed his knee into the woman's head, resulting in a resounding _Crack!_

The man swung again, this time not so lucky.

Crusoe got back on his feet, pulling his sword off the ground.

 _The hell is these guy's problem? I mean, sure, I look like an easier target, but why aren't they attacking, hmm, I don't know, THE DRAGONS?_

The man sliced a thin line across Crusoe's shin, then swung the sword back around.

 _OW._

Crusoe stabbed at the man's gut, then landed a heavy blow to his thigh.

The man howled in pain, clutching the wound.

Crusoe stood back, catching his breath as he observed the situation.

 _I …._

 _I should finish this._

 _I need to kill them._

 _It sounds weird, in my mind. But I know it's either that, or they get eaten alive, and I wish that on no one._

 _I'm sorry._

He swung his blade at the man's neck, decapitating him.

Crusoe looked away, not wanting to see the blood that was spilling on the arena sands as some dragons cheered, probably not expecting a scavenger fight to be as entertaining as a normal gladiator spectacle.

He glanced at the tribal woman lying on her side, seeing how she was dazed and couldn't fight.

Crusoe sighed.

 _This is going to kill me later._

He walked over, raised his sword, and stabbed her underneath the armpit, piercing her heart and killing her.

 _I hate myself._

He looked back towards Tsunami and Starflight, who were glaring into the crowd defiantly.

 _I need to show them I'm their ally somehow._

 _Wait._

 _No._

 _Those NightWings better show up soon, because-_

"Bring out the IceWings, all of them!"

 **(RvB quote, ayyyyy)**

" _She's just a shadow." Washington finished._

" _Don't call her that. She died in her real life, and that's all the Director ever remembered of her. So now, no matter how tough she is, no matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail, because that's what she's based on. No matter what she's doing, or what she's trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within her reach, it gets yanked away._ _ **Every, single, time.**_ _Can you imagine what that's like?"_ _Church asked._

" _Yeah," Washington replied, as the snow behind the Epsilon unit rippled, the Meta shimmering into existence with a punctual growl. "I think I'm getting the idea."_

 _"Oh no"_


	24. Chapter 24

**Nick**

The ship's lights had gone out, and Nick was still afraid of the dark.

"Ow! What happened?"

"The ship has impacted the planet's outer crust."

"Uh, that means 'We're not dead', right?"

"Correct."

"Cuia's gonna be so mad…"

Nick shoved a fallen desk off of his leg, groaning.

 _Yikes, that was some heck of a fall._  
He got on one knee, testing if it could still take pressure, enough for him to walk safely.

"Ooooogh, that's new.." he said, wincing at the pain emanating from his kneecap.

It felt kinda like his knee had a headache. Yowch.

 _This is...new._ Nick had never broken a single bone in his life, ironically enough.

"Everyone is accounted for. Making an exit…" Sparkwire said somewhere nearby.

Nick felt around the floor for his needler, mumbling about how he'd rather be in a full-on Blood moon than go through this.

The ship's cockpit window shattered, having been covered in foliage and slight debris.

Nick found the handle of his gun, clipping the loop on it's handle on his backpack.

He looked up, seeing Sparkwire exiting through the hole, Ryder quickly following him.

Nick collected himself, then stood up.

"Gah!"

The pain forced him back down.

"Gosh darn it."

He'd been known to have never actually swore in his life, and he intended not to make injuries an excuse.

"Hey," a friendly voice said behind him.

"U-uh, yes?" he replied quietly between breaths.

"Let me help you, okay?" the voice said.

"Yes, please."

He felt a small prick on the back of his calf, then he was instantly rejuvenated.

 _Woah, cool. I wonder who this is…_

"Thanks."

"No problem. Just be more careful next time."

Nick stood up, feeling no pain from his leg anymore.

 _Really cool._

He crawled out of the shattered cockpit glass, joining Ryder and Sparkwire.

"What?" he asked.

Sparkwire pointed down the hill.

"Oh."

At the bottom of the hill, a large glowing blue stone arch sat, almost untouched.

Or, it would be.

Attempting to make their way there was a small transport truck, probably coming to do something involving the gateway…

 _Well that's not good._

A blue-and-white feathered Avian Nick didn't recognise climbed out of the wreckage, shouldering a small satchel.

 _She must be the one who helped me out down there. I should thank her,_

He glanced back at the truck, a second one joining it.

 _Maybe later. We gotta get these guys to leave, whatever they're doing here._

Sparkwire unslung a Tac 45 out of the holster over his chest. "I believe they fired at us as a precaution. Their real primary directive was the Gateway. I can only speculate if it has something to do with Cuia and the others in our party, or something more sinister."

Ryder nodded out of the corner of Nick's vision, while Coltrane and a Hylotl climbed out, another person Nick didn't recognise.

 _I guess they're part of Cuia's crew. That'd make sense._

"Ryder, you may commence your 'mandatory' briefing." Sparkwire said dismissively.

Ryder hummed with intensity, his body glowing brighter with excitement.

"ALRIGHT LADIES, LISTEN UP." He barked. "We've got enemy troops on our soil, and they aren't sure as hell staying for tea n' biscuits! This should be a quick mission, we need to advance quickly and make sure to hold the position no matter how much enemies there are. We fight to the last man, got it?"

"Yessir!" Nick cried out, then realized he was the only one who had responded. He felt terribly embarrassed about that.

"Alright, Now i need a drink." Ryder muttered.

"What do you want?" Sparkwire inquired.

" I only drink the blood of my enemies. And occasionally a strawberry Yoo-hoo."

" Fresh out of Yoo-hoos."

"Ooh. Guess I'll have to go fresh then." Ryder joked, jerking a shotgun off his back.

Coltrane was as Nick usually found him, drunk, swearing like a sailor, and in need of a shower.  
Nick stepped aside as Coltrane shuffled by, muttering something indecipherable.

 _Well on the bright side, he won't feel the bullet wounds? I guess?_

Upon looking down the valley again, Nick spotted around three trucks surrounding the Gate already, with around four dropships either ascending or already landed in separate areas.

Multiple infantry troops had already exited out of the back of the trucks, a few on guard duty while specialists programmed aerial drones, and some lower-ranked soldiers ste down temporary sandbag barricades.

 _This might be tough, especially if we plan on launching an assault on foot. The grass here is that stupid-slick moor grass, and by the looks of it, it just finished raining._

 _Guess we'll be listening to One Final Effort._

"Do we have a plan?" Nick blurted out.

Ryder looked at him incredulously. "I know you're new here, but woah, that was too much."  
Sparkwire's eye graphics shifted, making Nick wonder if he'd just rolled his eyes. "Nick, this deranged Novakid has decided unless someone comes up with an actual battle strategy, the plan is always as follows: Improvise. Adapt. And Overcome."

Nick swore he'd heard that somewhere, but he kept to himself.

The avian who'd helped him raised her hand at the mention of this.

"Yes, Momoc?" Sparkwire asked, pointing at her upraised talons.

Momoc put her hand down. "What if they continue the assault? Like, every wave of them are more experienced soldiers and machinery?"

Ryder answered her question. "Don't be silly. That stuff only happens in like, video games and movies."

(OH THE IRONY)

Sparkwire's armor crackled with electricity. "We should begin our movement now. If we wait any longer, their defenses may increase."

Ryder chuckled maniacally. "Yep! Today is a good day to die!"

Nick sighed, following Ryder and Sparkwire down the hill as Coltrane, Momoc, and the Hylotl woman trekked behind him.

 _I hope it doesn't come to that._

(Hylotl are Japanese fish people. All honor, All glory, yadda yadda.)


	25. Chapter 25

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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"There's always a way, heheh./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I- I deleted you? How…?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I don't even know myself, heh. Guess someone decided I wasn't done playing secretary./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Spectre. I guess it's nice to hear you again./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yea, you too. Kinda was gettin' lonely in here./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Am I dead?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Nah, you's not sleepin' with the fish yet. You're currently in a peculiar sleep, like uh, mentally awake, but your body's being a bit of a slacker./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Oh. Well, as long as I'm not dead then…/span/p  
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I'll take credit for that stunt there. Your suit still had remnants of the old emergency life support. I woke up from my nap, turned it on, and you was transported out of combat. I honestly don't know where though./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Huh. That's ominous./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yea, I don't like it either./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn felt a bit more optimistic on the fact he wasn't dead, but felt like he needed to wake up./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Alright Spectre, I need you to wake me up./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"On it Boss./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A split second later, Jyn jolted awake./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Why do you always jump? Someday you're gonna land on something more stubborn than you are! /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Spectre joked in his head./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"None of that. You make the connection to my pip-boy yet?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yeah, you're near the entrance./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Good./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn sat up, observing the crater he'd landed in, marveling at how his clothes were untouched./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ow. Oh, crap." He finally noticed his scythe was gone./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Oi. Your weapon's gone. Great. We'll look for it later, worry about it later, and so on./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yeah. Okay./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He got to his feet, then noticed his shortsword embedded in nearby tree./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Huh. Guess I'll use that./spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"br class="kix-line-break" /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He walked over and tugged on the blade. Nothing. It didn't budge./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Ooooor not./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"At least you still have the rifle./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Okay, that's fair./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn sighed, unslinging his rifle. He then felt sudden guilt./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What came over me?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He had faint memories of killing multiple SkyWings, technically innocent dragons doing their jobs. He'd killed living, breathing, and to top it off, /spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"sentient/spanspan style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" beings./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"What was I doing? Why did I..kill them?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He felt a lot colder all of the sudden./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It wasn't your fault boss. They was aiming to kill you too, you just beat em' to the punch./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Thanks. But...I still killed them./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"And they're dead. Nothing can change that. You either live with it, or end up like the geezers who died from PTSD in their sleep. You want some advice? When you blow em' away, don't look at the bodies. No faces to haunt you./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Thanks, I guess./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn propped his makeshift scouter visor over his right eye./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Alright, use the radar, find the quickest route to the palace and show it to me in minimap form./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"I'm going back./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"You sure about this? You barely made it out las-/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Did I ask you to stop me? No. Map, now./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Whatever you say./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn began walking through the trees, knowing he'd be too late to stop the arena fight due to what /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Crusoe had said./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Alright, I still have the adrenaline shots?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yep. They've been sitting for a while, so expect a little bit of a, heheh, 'buzz'./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Uh-huh. Hit me./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He suddenly felt like he'd been stung by thousands of honeybees, but instead in his bloodstream./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Holy crap, that hurt./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"On the plus side though, he now could break into a run as fast as his body would allow, and his muscles to never get tired for around three hours./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"His walk broke into a jog, and from that, into a full-on sprint./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"WOOO!/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Just pay attention to the map, you hear?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gotcha. Just...Woo-hoo!/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He leapt over a fallen tree, his strides lengthening every few yards. Jyn had never ran so fast in his life, and it felt great./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Woah boss, you just hit eighteen miles an hour. That's olympic quality there./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn ignored him, focusing on not running into a brush patch. He was really tired of waiting, tired of being alone in his challenges. And this speed was busy fixing that./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Can I have some music?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Uh, sure, if it makes ya feel better./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Instantly a recording of Roundtable Rival began playing./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Huh, fine I guess./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He grabbed a nearby tree branch, using it as a makeshift rung to climb then jump off the tree, over a pile of downed trees./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sheesh, there's no dragon loggers?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Looks that way./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He ran for about an hour more, only stopping once to keep his clothes from igniting from the friction./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Jyn had arrived within two mile of the palace when he spotted something familiar. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"No way./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Who dropped that?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Lying on the ground was Milo's comlink, completely intact./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Well. I guess I'll have to give it back to him sometime./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He bent over and picked up the comm, brushing some wet dirt off and setting it in his pocket./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"You done?/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Yeah. Let's go find some stuff out. We need to see if Milo saved Crusoe, and if either of them are still alive./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Good plan boss./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Whatever./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: justify;" /p 


	26. Chapter 26

**Cuia**

Their small group had arrived at the gates under stealth, but it wasn't even close to even midday. Once they had arrived within a half of a mile between the gates, Terri stopped and pointed, her eyes looked shocked with her mouth agape.

Cuia stopped walking, facing her. "What?"

She smiled, then ran ahead, tackling a white figure. "You're alive!"

Cuia rubbed his eyes. "Jyn?"

The figure lifted his hood while underneath Terri's hug, revealing Jyn's face. "Uh, yep."

"Jyn!" Jake bellowed. "What have I told you about going alone?"

Jyn gave him a blank stare, basically saying 'wot' with his face.

"Where's Crusoe?" Cuia asked immediately.

Jyn sat up. "Taken." He mumbled grimly.

"What do you mean, _taken_?" Cuia demanded.

Jyn put on a straight face. "I mean he was compromised. Caught. Discovered. Revealed. Captured."

Jyn then explained everything that had occurred with him and Crusoe, ending on him having survived due to his recovery unit.

Jyn glared in the direction of the palace, which peeked out over the treeline. "He's in there somewhere, and I feel like I could have done something."

Jake sighed. "More of a reason to bust in, I guess." he muttered, unslinging his shotgun.

Terri stood up, looking alot fiercer than she'd looked a second ago when she was embracing Jyn. "We need to help him." she growled. "If they hurt him, I swear to Kluex I'll rip out their throat and shove it back down their mouth."

 _Hmm. The ship has sailed._

Jyn stood up, looking oddly distracted, almost like he was listening to someone, although nobody was talking.

 _Well, he must be thinking about something rather serious. Or he's 'deep in thought', whatever that is._

"Okay then, it's settled. We're going now. If what Crusoe said was correct, there should be an arena battle going on soon. And if Leighton's as sick as we think, he put Crusoe in the arena." Jake said, looking ahead down a lightly-worn trail.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get in there without being, gee, I don't know, getting killed and eaten, maybe not in that order?" Jyn inquired, a stern look forming on his face.

Jake smiled under his visor. "I think I got something for that."

"Am I going to burst into a million pieces if I use this?" Cuia asked suspiciously, bouncing a silver grenade-looking object in his talons.

Jake laughed, his external radio making it sound almost robotic. "No. They warrant teleportation. This'll get us into the arena. But you all have to stand close, I have only six of these things, and I want to conserve as much of them as possible."

Jyn pulled his hood down. "In case you forgot Jake, those things are the whole reason we're here to deal with this." he pointed out accusingly.

Jake chuckled. "Yep. Nathan, you've been awfully quiet. Do you want to do the honors?"

Nathan stepped up, taking the grenade out of his hand. "I'm just sick of this place. Let's get this over with." With that, Nathan shot into the air wing his wings, speeding off into the direction of the palace.

Around thirty seconds later, he came streaking back, a pair of rather confused SkyWing guards pursuing him.

 _They must've spotted him on his way back from the palace. Great._

"Detonate it, dammit!" Nathan yelled, bowling into Jake.

Jake's fist clamped down on the detonator, right before Cuia and the rest of the group vanished in a blink of light.


	27. Chapter 27

**Sidewinder**

"He's been gone too long." Kite said, pacing and forth lashing her tail frustratedly. "Something had to have gone wrong, he wouldn't just straight up leave us. Right?"

Sidewinder was sitting in the dirt, watching her. _She's so pretty…and the way she carries herself is just...wow._

"Sidewinder!"

He snapped out of his trance. "Uh, Wha-?"

"Were you even listening to a single word I said?" The SkyWing demanded.

"Um...You were wondering if Milo left us. Am I right?" He responded hopefully.

She covered her eyes in disgust. "Just pay more attention. You're so distracted it's no wonder you got yourself captured."

"Hey!" He protested, wounded. "That wasn't my fault!"

She smirked, then walked toward the treeline. "Sure. Well, I'm going to go hunt, if you need me. I'll make sure to get you something nice, okay?"

Sidewinder nodded, hiding an embarrassed smile.

 _Gosh, she's something._

He watched her as she disappeared into the trees, wondering how she thought of him.

 _She probably thinks I'm weak. That'd make a whole lot more sense. Sidewinder, the dragon who's scared of killing a sparrow. Yep, that's me._

He sighed, then spread himself out on the ground, yawning.

 _Boy, I'm tired. I should've slept last night. Then again…._

 _I did get to see more of Kite…_

 _Eh. Enough of that. It's time for a nap, I guess._

He let out a _whoosh_ of air, then let sleep take him.

 _Huh?_

An endless lush green field stretched out before him down a small hill, the tall strands of grass bowing wherever the wind decided to blow, like a cult devoted to the breeze.

(I know it's dumb, but I just really wanted to put that in there. Also, Febreeze!)

 _Where am I…?_

He turned his head sideways to see a massive, jagged mountain, covered in shadows and wreathed in smoke, looking like a freak hellscape forgotten by time.

He began walking towards it, drawn by this new intense curiosity. After crossing the field, he eventually noticed the ground was changing, from warm, damp grass to shards of blackened glass, charcoal, and some odd white shapes.

Sidewinder ignored most of this, continuing towards the mountain until he found a small, burnt-out and abandoned cart road, deciding to follow that instead. The road began twisting and turning, going around several peaks and cliffs, all charred and smothered in ash.

 _What happened here? Who would have destroyed so much...I better just keep walking. I don't like the look of these shadows._

The road eventually straightened out, leading directly to a cave, its rocks above covered with soot and more of those white stick-looking shapes.

 _Strange. Well, I guess I'll just…_

He warily stepped into the cave, noticing instantly the lit torches down further into the cavern.

 _Oh, that's comforting._

The second his tail left the light outside the cavern, the ground began to shake. And then a small explosion rocked the cave from outside. _No!_

A sliding pile of rock cascaded from above, blocking the only entrance he knew about, sealing him inside, alone with whoever lit the torches.

 _I really don't like this…_

He advanced down the ragged cavern, not feeling any pain of any kind, oddly enough. From what he remembers about caves, the ground is usually covered in sharp rocks.

 _Guess not…_

Sidewinder eventually began wondering if this cave ever ends. _It's like a hole going to nowhere._

After a while, the tunnel emptied out into a large cavern. _Finally! Something other than pure boring tunnel!_

The ambient lighting was flowing from the center as Sidewinder took in what was inside the cavern.

Bodies. Multiple ones, every tribe of dragon was here, dead on the floor, slaughtered.

 _Who was killed here? Talons of Peace? They're the only dragons with allies from other tribes, so I suppose it's the only answer._

Blood was trickling through the ragged stone floors, making small rivlets of crimson flowing through Sidewinder's talons. That's when he recognised the faces.

 _Milo?_

Milo's body had been thrown against the cavern wall, his head tilted to one side and blood running from his mouth.

 _No. It's not real. It can't be real._

 _This is a dream._

 _No._

 _Not a dream._

 _Some kind of...nightmare._

He looked away, another face catching his gaze.

 _Kite._

He instinctively bounded over to her, grabbing her lifeless talons.

 _No no no no no no no….._

 _Please not you, no…_

His head snapped up in disgust.

 _Holy moons, it IS a nightmare!_

 _Okay, I'm good. None of this exists. So why is this even…_

 _Why am I here?_

A strange maniacal laugh echoed through the cavern.

"Such a good question, SandWing."

A rather tall-looking dragon walked into the cave with no small swagger, as if nothing in the world could harm him. His scales were a peculiar mix of mottled black and green obviously not a specific tribe.

(You wanna know who I based his personality off of? Agent Wyoming from the series Red v.s. Blue. XD)

Sidewinder already knew this usually makes dragons like that dangerous.

 _Wait, how did he know what I was thinking…_

He stared dubiously at his strange form.

 _Is he a...hybrid?_

"Yes. I am a hybrid. Pleasure to meet you, I suppose." The dragon rumbled.

 _Wha- can he read my mind? AHH! Um, think of something else, uh, um, er, BEETLES._

 _YEAH, BEETLES._ He immediately began picturing all of the strange insects he'd ever found, mainly because that was the one hobby he'd ever had.

The dragon flinched out of the corner of his eye, like he'd just interacted with a spiky wall of thorns.

 _Yes! Yes! I finally-OH MOONS_

"A nice try, but your concentration is in need of drastic improvement. I'm here on _peaceful_ terms, dear sir." He said, acting as if the wall Sidewinder had constructed was a minor inconvenience.

 _What terms?_

"Why, the terms of an alliance! Though you may not know it, my dear SandWing, you hold _immense_ power. One not seen in many generations!" The hybrid dragon exclaimed. "Listen, with both your and my abilities combined, we could end the wars! Possibly even rule the continent, if we chose to! Eh?"

 _What powers? I don't remember having anything special, or animus-touched, or dangerous of any kind._

The hybrid dragon chuckled. "Why, it's Adrenaline! More specifically, your bloodline's form of adrenaline. A very powerful ability, once activated correctly."

 _Huh. I'm yet to see anything special happen to me besides getting caught up in this mess._

 _Wait, you have powers? What kind of hybrid are you? And is that an accent?_

He boomed a laugh, shaking the cavern slightly. "So many questions! I'll answer them in order, I suppose. Yes, I have powers. I can read your thoughts, obviously, and I am also a restricted form of animus. I'm afraid I was gifted and also had a defect as well. I'm assuming you very well heard of animus dragons due to their immense power, but as I'm beginning to explain, I can't fully use my abilities. I will say this: They have become restricted to _time_ itself only. No changing reality, unless I want to rewind the clock a few hours. It's not that terrible of a restraint. Last answer, my parents were both a NightWing Male and a SeaWing female, both acting against their tribe's will. It's all _very_ _romantic_ , but they were sadly, erm, _disposed_ of. They did teach me how to fend for myself, at the greatest merit. None of their murderers went unpunished." He finished with a malevolent bloodthirsty grin.

 _Um. I think I'll be good._

Sidewinder thought, wondering how he could feel sick to his stomach in a dream.

 _That all doesn't explain the bodies. Why was the outside of this cave so desolate?_

"Aha! You've caught on. What you see in here-" He gestured to the bodies littering the floor around the strange glowing purple arch. "And outside, are a perfect recreation of the future. The future where you join me, and we set down a _glorious_ empire!"

 _But what about Kite? And Milo? And whoever else these dragon are?_

"Ah. I was afraid you'd ask that. I'm afraid that it's _your_ talons their blood is on. _You_ kill them, around a few months from now. That SkyWing you loved was caught in the crossfire. You never really recover."

 _No then. I won't join you. Even if I had more courage and power over those who had tried to kill me, I won't lose Kite for the sake of madness!_

The cavern began shaking.

"Oh. Well that won't do _at all._ " The hybrid dragon said with a deadly edge.

 _Who even are you?_

"Me? Oh my, you are _full_ of great questions, how fascinating!"

 _Stop with the sarcasm._

"Alright then. My name-"

The cavern around them shook more violently, beginning to fade away.

Rocks and stalcilites began cascading from the stone ceiling.

"-is Flashback."

Sidewinder awoke with a yell, because he thought he could still feel the cavern shaking.

Kite recoiled in surprise, leaping away from him. "Woah! Hold on, stop yelling!"

Sidewinder backed away, staring at Kite, then down at his talons.

 _Do I really have some kind of special power? And…_

He glanced up at Kite, who was giving him a concerned look.

 _Do I really kill Kite sometime in the future?_

"I was just waking you up to eat, sheesh. Why are you so freaked out?"

She paused thoughtfully, then added, "Did someone have a _nightmare_?" She asked in a babyish tone.

"Oh, shush." he muttered.

"Well?" Kite began. "What was it?"

He nodded toward her catches, mumbling. "Let's eat first."

She smiled, then slid a small deer toward him. "Eat up. Oh, right. Do you want it cooked?"

"Um, sure."

She took a deep breath, then exhaled, bathing the carcass in fire.

She clamped her mouth shut, then began cooking her own deer, which was slightly larger than Sidewinder's.

 _Never had deer before. Wonder what it tastes like._

He took a bite out of it's hind leg, tearing the warm flesh off the bone.

 _Woah. This is great. I don't think I'll finish it though…_

He stared down at the slightly charred carcass.

 _Yeah. That's a lot to eat._

Sidewinder swallowed the hunk of meat in his mouth, feeling it sink down his throat.

 _Okay, that's actually pretty filling._

"Shoow," Kite said, her mouth full of food. She swallowed. "What's the big deal?"

"Um. You might want to sit down…" Sidewinder sighed, preparing to be asked hundreds of questions.


	28. Chapter 28

**Ryder, Pt. 1**

 _This is going to be FUN._

Ryder slid the last two slugs into the side of the shotgun, almost catching his finger when he slid the hatch closed.

"Lock and load, people!" He shouted, earning a drunken groan from Coltrane, who was stumbling around using his shotgun as a crutch.

"I've already worked out how we get up there. The nearby undergrowth should be good enough to sneak through undetected by enemy troops. Once we get into position of the control point, we set up shop until this attack blows over. Got it?" Ryder continued.

Nick was the only one that nodded, as Sparkwire just rolled his 'eyes', and Cuia's crew listened to what he was saying, but showed no signs of treating him like a leader as they did with Cuia.

 _Wonderful._

"Okay then. Move out!"

He marched forward, actually starting to be quiet only when they spotted the first soldier.

 _Okay, I need to get over this._

Ryder descended to his hands and knees, avoiding a soldier staring into the brush, his top-of-the-line combat helm covered with glowing pieces of technology.

 _Holy crap, I almost got spotted by Robocop._

He waited thirty seconds, counting off each individual second in his head, then cautiously peeked out of the brush.

The soldier had left.

 _Good._

He looked back to see Nick following his close by, with Sparkwire staying at the edge of the trees to avoid his large form being spotted.

 _Cuia's crew had stealth modules, I think…_

 _Weak._

He slowly edged out of the brush, plowing the wooden tendrils out of his way with the end of his shotgun.

 _Here goes,_

Ryder stood up, leveling his shotgun butt to his shoulder.

 _Nobody? What in Sam Hill…_

Immediately he was struck in the back of his leg with something solid.

 _Shit!_

His reflexes kicked in and his leg buckled, gravity bringing him down. He twisted around in mid-air to see his attacker, just in time to dodge a pistol's discharge.

Upon hitting the ground he fired his shotgun three times, one of the discharges missing and the other two hitting the soldier in the head and neck.

Ryder relaxed as soon as the man's lifeless body hit the grass.

 _Damn, a worthy opponent! Finally!_

Shouting began erupting from the direction of the Gateway, bringing Ryder back to his feet grinning.

 _Oh YES._

"Ryder! What happen- oooh, that's bloody…" Nick said, running up behind him with his needler drawn.

Ryder chuckled, then pumped the forestock of his gun, loading another slug into the chamber.

"Son, are you ready for a good-old-fashioned firefight?"

Nick shuddered uncomfortably. "I'm not your son, but okay..?"

Ryder nodded, then turned back to the Gateway and the U.S.C.M. defenses surrounding it.

 _It's a Rocket Race!_

Sparkwire appeared on the side of the hill ahead of Ryder and Nick, who were running to join him.

"Concerned. Ryder, did you encounter a militant?" Sparkwire asked, pulling the heavy machine gun off his back.

Ryder nodded, huffing lightly. "Dead. Just like all these lowly dirtbags are soon to be, hah ha!"

Sparkwire gave him a curious look, then began lumbering toward the Gateway, unable to run with the M61. "Vigilant. Stay behind me. My armor should absorb any projectiles that impact my physical armor. I can escort you safely there, until my ammunition is depleted thoroughly."

 _Where's Cuia's sad excuse for crewmembers?_

As if on cue, a drunken cry sounded and was abruptly followed by an explosion erupting from the center of the soldier's ranks.

Ryder and Nick both looked at each other in unison. "Coltrane?"

 _Karma?_

Just as they reached the top of the hill, a shot rang out, announcing a split-second before an arc of electricity shot out of Sparkwire's armor, disintegrating the round aimed for his head.

"Unconcerned. Hmph." he said, warming up his machine gun.

"Calm. I will begin returning fire. Suppressive fire form you as well would be appreciated as well." with that, the minigun began to roar, bullets flying out in such a numerous amount that Ryder could see them leaving the barrel with the naked eye. Sparkwire began walking forward, the sandbags surrounding the Gateway being torn to ribbons as bullets ripped them apart.

Some of the soldiers were caught by surprise, falling to the ground either wounded or dead after stepping into the stream of superheated lead.

"Wary. Enemies have become aware of our existence and have taken heavy combat measures."

 _Heavy combat measures. Ha! Probably noth-_

Suddenly, an explosion erupted a few meters ahead of them, another bolt of electricity firing out and shattering a missile into a million pieces, miniature tendrils splitting off and evaporating the shrapnel coming from the rocket's remains.

"Aw, hell!" Ryder exclaimed, pushing Sparkwire, who didn't look too happy about it, forward like a human- er, Glitch shield.

More rockets exploded overhead, as bullets and grenade were either launched back or turned to tiny fragments of ash.

"Was this the plan?" Nick shouted over the gunfire.

Ryder blinked. "Again, what plan?" he yelled back.

Nick shrugged, spreading his palms. He then looked backwards, and began firing from over Sparkwire's shoulder.

A soldier cried out in pain as multiple needles impaled his left arm, forcing his to drop his rifle. Another needle hit him in the throat and blood shot out, the man clutching his neck and going down.

Nick crouched lower behind Sparkwire after that, looking shaken, and didn't fire again until they finally reached the sandbag wall.

"Okay! Watches in sync?" Ryder called.

Nick blinked. "We were supposed to have watches?"

"Good man! Chaaaarge!"

"I don't wanna dooo thiiiiiis!" Nick cried as Ryder dragger him toward some undisturbed sandbags.

 **Ryder, Pt. 2**

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Ryder bellowed, swinging his shotgun stock into a soldier's face.

Nick was doing his best to cover Sparkwire as he reloaded his machine gun, and Cuia's crew had already managed to take out a quarter of their defenses with an AT-4 they'd brought from Cuia's ship wreckage.

"Alarmed. Ryder, look out!" Sparkwire called, dropping the ammunition for his gun and unslinging his own shotgun. Ryder turned around to see a huge metal object drop into the ground from orbit.

A U.S.C.M. Standard Combat mech, complete with gatling gun and quad rocket launcher.

 _Aw, son of a bi-_

The mech leapt forward, shaking the ground, leaving enemy soldiers and Ryder's allies alike stumbling.

"Ex-sergeant Ryder, I assume?" A calm voice asked behind him.

Ryder spun around, quickly drawing and leveling his pistol, a Turkish Army Mauser, at his oddly relaxed face.

The younger man was covered in a muddled combination of leather and steel armor, most likely scavenged. A broadsword hung at his side, along with a .500 revolver slung in a makeshift leather holster.

"Who the 'ell are you?" he grunted.

"Eric Jenkins. Shouldn't you be more concerned with that mech?"

"I asked you a question, dirtbag! Who are you with?"

"I'm here to help, gosh. I honestly didn't think you guys would still be here."

 _Wait….Jenkins?_

"You're here for Crusoe."

Eric nodded, a serious look flashing across his face.

Ryder turned away. "He's not here. Went into whatever the hell that is." He growled, pointing at the Gate.

The mechsuit had blasted forward, plowing through a stray boulder and shattering its broken pieces everywhere.

"echsuit…?" Eric said expectantly.

"Alright, captain cameo." Ryder grumbled, drawing his opposite Mauser.

He signaled to Nick, who nodded and unsheathed his sword.

(Now, I don't think you realize this yet, but there's two characters in this story, Nick and Nathan, who both are based off my brother and I's avatars as well as weapon loadouts from the game _Terraria_. So that sword is not only called the True Excalibur, but is a weapon of mass destruction that shoots glowy energy swords. Yeah. It's pretty fun.)

"Where's Coltrane?! We need that AT rocket over here!" Nick yelled over the continuous gunfire.

Ryder shook his head, indicating that he didn't have a clue.

The mech had finally reached the sandbag barrier, firing a spray of rounds at Sparkwire.

Like normal, the bullets never made it to him, but they had gotten closer than usual…

As he sprinted toward the mech, Ryder recalled a molotov cocktail he'd stored in his backpack.

 _We can put that in the mech, light the thing on fire!_

He crouched to the ground, unslinging his pack, then digging through it for the bottle of gasoline and a rag. After a few moments passed, he pulled out a wine bottle sealed with a cork, and a dirty white rag.

 _Now we have to kill robo roberto._

He put his backpack back on, then began running straight at the mech.

Nick ran up besides him, slashing an enemy soldier on the way that had been firing at Momoc's position, where she'd been patching a wound Coltrane had received.

"Gimme a good distraction, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Uh-huh."

Ryder ignored Nick's protests as he repeatedly shot and killed any soldier he could find, the bullets shattering their helmets with every impact.

Nick froze, pointing at the mech. It had turned, facing them with it's glaring floodlights on.

 _What idiot turns their floodlights on in the evening?_

"Get to cover!" Nick yelled, firing needles that ricocheted harmlessly off the mech's durasteel exterior.

Ryder dove behind a steel crate, reloading his pistols. "We need some frags in here!"

Bullets rattled against the large crate, which refused to let any bullets pierce it, much to Ryder's relief. Nick had hidden behind a jeep with some weird tank treads.

"See if there's anything we can use in there!" Ryder called, waving a handkerchief over the top of his cover. More shots rang out, cutting holes into his kerchief.

 _Dang, they're trigger happy._

Nick climbed into the back of the jeep, crawling over the seats as he searched for something to utilize in their attempt to bring the hulking metal juggernaut down.

Ryder fired back at the mech, using the shot time he had as the thing reloaded it's rounds into the gatling. Two bullets impacted on the glass, while the other four bounced off the seemingly impenetrable armor.

Nick climbed back out, waving some kind of pipe-looking device around.

An M2 mortar.

 _Perfect._

"You have the shells for that thing?" Ryder yelled.

The blue ninja nodded, flipping a cylindrical object around in his hand, a 60mm explosive shell.

"Good job! Now load it, I'll provide a distraction!" he shouted, loading a new clip into both Mausers.

He rolled out of cover, firing at the mech's window repeatedly.

"Come out and fight me like a man, you cowardly excuse for a soldier!" He called, firing three rounds for direct hits on the windshield. The pilot inside was gritting his teeth, moving levers furtively.

The mech opened fire, a round barely missing Ryder's head, knocking his helmet off.

"Gah. Is that all you got?" He taunted, firing more shots while strafing to the right, away from Nick, who was busy aiming the mortar.

He fired three more times, both guns empty by shots two and three.

 _Damnit._

He unslung both of his shotguns, resting both stocks on his hip.

"Come and get me you bastard!" he yelled, firing off two sprays of lead into the spiderwebbed cockpit glass. He flipped both shotguns facing upward, yanking the forestocks to reload them with a hand per shotgun. He flipped them back into a firing position, then fired again.

The mech finally opened fire, a shot catching his calf and another in the shoulder.

Ryder cried out in pain, then popped his neck and grinned, much to the pilot's surprise.

"That it?"

The pilot glared through the bulletproof glass, then Ryder saw a white light as his ears began ringing and everything disappeared...


	29. Chapter 29

**Jyn**

 _Why did we have use the stupid grenades?_ Jyn wondered, rubbing his head.

That's when he opened his eyes and couldn't agree with himself more _  
_ _ **Ay, you're famous! Not that it's a good kind.**_

 _Gee, I don't deserve such an honor…_

Cuia blinked wildly, then spotted Crusoe.

"Crusoe! COME ON, WE'RE LEAVING!" he yelled, grabbing him by his cloak.

"Wha- Hey, how'd you get in here…" Crusoe mumbled tiredly.

 _He's almost exhausted himself completely._

 _ **Huh. This kid's giving me crazy energy readings though. Are his hands possibly radioactive?**_

 _No, just possibly magic._

 _ **Oh. That's normal I guess.**_

Jyn finally could understand what he was seeing.

Scattered in the arena was somewhere around thirteen dragons, all white or a light-blue shade.

Only two stood out, a blue and a black dragon.

 _I need to figure out the names of these species sometime._

 _ **Didn't you get the names from Rail?**_

 _Yeah, but how'd you know that?_

 _ **I just began accessing your memory. I'd bet a fifty the the black an' blue ones are a SeaWing and uh, NightWing.**_

 _Can you access other people's memories? Is that wh-_

 _ **Nah, I can see it. Why would the blue dragon have a pair of gills if it didn't live in the sea?**_

 _Okay, that's fair. But what about the NightWing?_

 _ **Jyn, it's so obvious! If I had to explain it to you, it'd insult your intelligence!**_

 _Oh. Okay?_

A large voice boomed across the arena. " **Who dares to interrupt my hatching day tournament?!"**

 _Scarlet. Whoopee._

 _ **Kid, you have to do it.**_

 _Do what?_

 _ **You have to take the shot.**_

…

 _Are you sure?_

 _ **I'm running the numbers now, but so far… it still idn't as pretty as the original ending, but she still doesn't keep the royal rocking chair.**_

 _O-okay._

 _ **You have to be one-hundred percent sure of yourself here, no shaking, no regrets. This is for the 'good of the inhabitants' and all that stuff.**_

 _Is this going to go over well with the team?_

 _ **As far as I know, they won't care, but Crusoe might have some thoughts. Make sure it's not a kill shot though. From the way Crusoe talked about her when you were around him an' Jake, she needs to live for some important stuff to happen.**_

 _Got it. What round do I-_

 _ **Hollow point, light round. It's basically the same effect as the acid Crusoe mentioned, to disrupt the tissue. According to this scan of their vitals, they have significantly sturdy flesh, so this should be a breeze.**_

 _Good. Thank you._

 _ **Anytime, boss.**_

"We do, your royal edginess!" Cuia called, performing a mock bow.

Arc shuddered, raising his talons. "Cuia? Is it a good idea to um, tick off a dragon?" Almost instantly he looked up at Zazilie, remembering her transformation that had occured.

She grinned back at him wickedly.

Jyn ignored him, unslinging his rifle as Cuia continued bantering with Queen Scarlet.

"Crusoe, can you speed time up?" He whispered to Crusoe, who was laying on the ground, exhausted.

"Yeah, around five minutes-" He coughed. "Why?"

Jyn loaded a 7.62x39 light hollow-point round into the chamber of his rifle, directing the bolt in with a satisfying clack.

"I want to set things right," he replied softly, tapping his rifle's olive-green plastic exterior.

Crusoe raised an eyebrow. "I know." He let out a sigh. "It won't fix everything though. Scarlet won't have a personal vendetta against Glory if you do this. It'll be you."

"We'll be gone by the time she recovers-" Jyn began.

"And then she won't stop until she finds you, which can only lead to her and possibly other dragons leaving this world." Crusoe finished, inhaling sharply.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

"...Okay. Make sure to carry me out of here if I pass out, okay? I'm not sure doing something like this is exactly energy preserving."

"Can you just Jack Joyce this stuff already?"

"Fine. I need to concentrate on it only affecting you, so hold on. I can convince Cuia to leave you here, so you won't be interfered with. Good luck."

A purple glow erupted from Crusoe's limp hands, Jyn finally noticing Crusoe had two matching gauntlets now.

 _Did he always have two?_ He wondered.

The wave of purple light extended out in a flash, going out over the horizon of the mountains overlooking the arena.

Crusoe's smile faded, the dust blowing across the arena speeding up.

Jyn quickly activated his stealthboy, not wanting to take any chances on the effect of time speeding up.

Suddenly, his friends vanished, their shapes quickly blinking out, though being there one second ago.

 _Must've used another grenade._

The white dragons were instantly slain by black glimpses of shapes, as well as the smaller black dragon being taken.

 _Was that a peace exchange or a ransom situation…?_

 _ **Eyes on the prize, kid.**_

The blue dragon was quickly escorted away from the arena, being replaced by a brown MudWing, and a split second later, a fiery orange SkyWing.

Time slowed back to normal at a sloped rate as Jyn crouched low to the ground.

 _Spectre, link vital sights to my scouter interface._

 _ **Gotcha.**_

From his invisible vantage point, he pulled the rifle scope up to his visor, which highlighted the Queen of the SkyWing's heat signature, as well as anyone else with one in the same temperature range respectively.

 _ **Aim for below the eye socket,**_ Spectre directed.

 _Got it._

Jyn flicked the safety off and fired.

One second...

Two seconds…

Three seco-

The shock of being shot wore off, as Queen Scarlet erupted in a unearthly howl.

 _Target has been contacted._

 _ **Now would be a good time to leave boss.**_

Screams of terror erupted from the stands, Skywings, MudWings, and SandWings alike trampling each other just to escape the invisible force that had just tried to kill Queen Scarlet.

 _What's Scarlet's vitals?_

 _ **Good enough. Mission accomplished, now let's scram before bounty hunter hanzo shows up.**_

 _Fair, but there's something I have to do first._


	30. Chapter 30

**Sparkwire**

 _[Handshaking connection complete]_

 _[Unit: 'Sparkwire' resuming playback]_

 _[Memory steam initiating…]_

 _[Complete!]_

Weary. Hello. I'm afraid my stream was interrupted by more... _pressing_ matters.

Exhausted. I shall continue, unless you object.

 _[Stream uplink complete. Signal: Operational.]_

"Frightened. Ryder, no!" I had said, dropping the .20mm ammunition for my M61 Vulcan as I ran to aid him. The Modular Mech Suit had launched an explosive blast, throwing Ryder about thirty yards backwards.

An enemy flanked at my side, attempting to butt me with the end of his rifle.

I ignored him, letting him be electrocuted to death.

"Fire in the hole!" Nick shouted, firing the mortar shell into the mech's windshield. The inside exploded, the pilot's entrails scattered along the insides.

Nick saw this and abruptly vomited.

 _Revolting._

The mech teetered sideways, then smashed into a landed dropship, both exploding simultaneously.

Coltrane helplessly wandered through the carnage, babbling incessantly due to intoxication, as Nick came back to his senses and managed to stand.

I walked over to Ryder's unconscious, flickering form, grabbing his forearms.

"Desperate. Nick,"

Nick acknowledged me, assisting by grabbing Ryder's legs and helping me carry him backwards, coincidentally near the Gateway.

The platform that had been constructed around the arch was now covered in tools of scientific studies, such as light projection and energy fume transmissions.

We set him down below a table, just as Atsuko came running up the stone stairs.

She was covered in crusted blood, such as from knife slashes and multiple patched bullet wounds.

"We-" She coughed, hacking in her throat until she coughed up blood. "-a-are falling back. Prepare to hold…" she crumpled, fainting.

Nick stared at her worriedly, then looked back to me. "I'll tend to her. You work on a fallback plan."

I nodded. "Vigilant. Affirmative. I will exercise our options on evasive actions."

I sat down, watching Momoc and Coltrane run up the steps with wounds similar to Atsuko's.

Upon turning around, I saw what I had considered my last resort was now our only option.

 _We're in no condition to fight._

"Begrudging. Nick, boot up the Gateway. We're making our last stand."

[Transmission end]

[Signal: Lost.]


	31. Chapter 31

**Arc**

"Where are we going next?" Arc asked, as they ran from the direction of the Sky palace, Cuia and Terri carrying Crusoe's motionless body.

Jake leapt over a downed tree. "We're leaving. I'm sick of this place."

"Hell yeah." Nathan muttered.

 _But…_

 _Whatever happened to Milo?_

The group reached the point where Cuia said they had arrived. Arc, not knowing this, asked about how he and Zazilie had shown up coincidentally in the same clearing as everyone else.

Nathan muttered something about convenient matchmaking while Cuia tried his best to explain what little Jyn had told him about how the Gates work.

"They…" he began. "..they live up to their name. They mark the openings to other worlds, other dimensions. By default, they transport you to original hub, which is located somewhere in a safe star system outside an outpost built on the remains. But with the proper tweaks and technological addons, it can be used the way we were transported here, through wormholes."

 _Um. Okay. But-_

"...How are we supposed to get back?"

"I, uh.." Cuia said, fairly lost at Arc's merit.

"Jyn knows." Jake reassured him. "He should be here soon."

Arc looked at Terri, who sat next to Crusoe's sleeping body, brushing his forehead, and talking to him quietly.

 _Hm. Maybe Cuia wasn't that right about her…_

Jake began listing a headcount, making sure everyone was still with the group until Jyn arrived.

Jyn, who was breathing heavily, was covered in bleeding gashes, and a few bullet wounds, his robes torn to ribbons with his new combined injuries as well as his past numerous few.

"Holy- Jyn, what happened?" Jake asked, catching Jyn before he fell from exhaustion.

"Leighton-" he gasped. "-was still there. I beat him… made sure-"

He coughed. "-those dragons Crusoe likes made it out okay. Leighton was planning to put them up for some kind of ransom."

Crusoe groaned, waking up instantly. "No. I know…" He stretched his back, groaning. "-What he was planning on doing. Something that's usually frowned upon everywhere but places like this. An auction. It had to have been his plan.

To sell the remaining dragonets to the highest bidder. Though I don't think he would have expected to get anything for Glory." He said, standing up and stretching out his legs.

"The dragons here still have a pretty low expectancy of RainWings being good for anything."

Cuia nodded. "Probably...and hear me out on this, maybe he was meaning to keep her as a souvenir?"

Arc shuddered. That was an unsettling thought. Keeping something with sentience and understanding as a souvenir was the scariest thing he could think of anyone doing. It just felt... _wrong._

"Yuck. Did you kill him?" Jake asked, rolling his shoulders.

Jyn shook his head. "No. I broke his rifle though."

"At least he won't be doing any long-range interference. Good. Let's leave this hell."

Jyn nodded, fishing a PDA out of his pack and activating the rift that brought them there.

Arc stared up at Zazilie. "Rea dy?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

Crusoe entered first, followed by Jake, then Nathan and Jyn. Terri ran and jumped in gleefully, screaming "WHEEEEEEEEEE!" the whole way through. Cuia had stepped one foot into the swirling vortex when-

"Hey, wait for me!" a voice called.

Cuia spun around. "MILO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

Milo stopped in front of Cuia. "I uh-"

For a split second, Arc heard an explosion, and then everything went black.

(Ha ha, if this chapter seems bad, it's because I wanted to get to the next part as fast as possible.)


	32. Chapter 32

**Nick**

 _ **Earlier…**_

"We can't hold these guys off for long, hurry!" Momoc shouted, ducking behind the crate of equipment she had taken cover behind.

 _Gosh, hold on!_

"Alright! I almost have it onli-" Nick was cut off by a shot to the chest.

"Ga-h-h.." He fumbled for the red liquid he always kept hooked to his side, a healing potion Jyn had invented.

Nick struggled to uncork it, feeling his consciousness slipping by the second.

He yanked the cork out, chugging the tangy drink, quickly healing his ruptured chest.

"Wow, that sucked." He muttered, inputting the final command on the console.

 _That was a sniper round. I'm lucky that wasn't a kill shot._

The arch lit up in a spectrum of blue and purple, the wind picking up abruptly as Sparkwire ushered Nick into the portal. Nick began helping him when Coltrane drunkenly fell down the stairs, Momoc rushing to help him.

"What about-" he began.

"Dismissive. They'll make it. Ryder won't, if we don't hurry." Sparkwire insisted, cutting him off.

A man covered in metal armor stood in front of Momoc, who was occupied with helping Coltrane to the portal.

"Go! I'll hold them as long as I can!" He yelled, drawing a revolver and firing back at the attacking U.S.C.M. soldiers.

 _Oh, a cliche._

"Alarmed. They have Anti-Aircraft guns pointed at the arch, MOVE!" Sparkwire shouted, picking up speed.

 _I got a bad feeling about thi-_

An explosion rocked the arch, and Sparkwire tossed Ryder's unconscus body into the glowing portal, grabbing Nick by the shoulder and throwing him in.

Nick, being startled by this, tried seeing what Sparkwire was doing.

He was talking with the ranger. And the one thing he could hear before the roar of the portal sucked him in: "Say hi to my little brother for me."

Another explosion made the energy contorted around Nick to flicker, then appear electrified.

 _Sparwire's armor wouldn't affect the portal, right?_

A third explosion sounded, and Nick blacked out.


	33. Chapter 33

**Milo/ Epilogue**

 _Uhhhh…..my heaaaad…._

 _What was that explosion…?_

 _Hold on...where am I.._

 _Why do I feel like I was hit with a pineapple?_

 _And why do I feel so weightless?_

He opened his eyes.

"Ahh! What? Why am I- AHHH!"

The first thing he noticed was the floor. Mainly because he was looking up-er, down.

He was upside-down.

He then noticed the chains.

 _What? Oh, for the love of-_

"Hello?" He called, not being able to see past the small patch of ground he was facing.

 _Someone please be in here, and PLEASE be reasonable. I do NOT want to die from all the blood running to my head._

"Oh, you're awake! That's good. For a while I thought you were in a coma, maybe even dead." said a calm female voice.

 _That's reassuring._

"Anyways, I'd like to tell you that escape is impossible. If you manage to escape your bonds, there is about twenty dragons ready to stop you. So just don't try." The calm voice continued.

"Uh, can I get down? _Please?_ " Milo asked.

"Hmmm, lemme think. Uh, that'll be a no, NightWing."

 _Aw, THIS again?!_

"Whyyyy?' He whined.

"Because you're probably an assassin, and your conniving words would lead to me getting killed in a heartbeat."

Milo wriggled a bit, trying to get a look at the dragon.

"Um, who are you? I mean, I kinda just got blown up-ish, soooo…" He asked expectantly.

He heard her giggle. "I'm not answering _your_ questions. You're supposed to answer _mine!"_

"Erm, okay? What do you want to know?" he responded.

He heard something slithering across the floor.

 _Probably her tail_ He reasoned.

"Hmm. Who are you?"

"Shadowtalon" He replied quickly.

"I don't believe you. What's your name? Your _real_ name." she insisted.

"Milo. Yes, it's weird, but where I come from, it's pretty normal." Milo said quietly.

"Huh. I like it. Sounds…. I dunno, _exotic_."

 _I'll say._

He heard her tap the wooden floor.

 _I think I'm in some kind of shack. Or a cabin._

 _Somewhere with wood floors. Definitely that._

"Next question. How'd you end up in that tree?"

"What tree?"

"Oh, nevermind, that makes sense."

 _Tree? What?_

 _Well, maybe I fell into a tree after that explosion?_

 _I guess that makes sense._

 _Wow, I'm hungry._

"Do you have waffles?" Milo asked hopefully.

"What are waffles?" the voice replied, confused.

"Awww. Nevermind, nothing." he answered sadly.

"Okay...back to my questions. What are you doing in the continent? I heard NightWings don't let their tribe go the mainland until they're ten, and you look like, I dunno, _seven_?"

 _Wow. I have the body of a seven-year-old. Freaking beautiful everybody._

"I kinda can't explain why I'm here." he admitted.

"Oh. Some kind of 'hush-hush, confidential NightWing ears only' mission?" She asked, a tinge of excitement edging on her voice.

Milo frowned. "Sadly, no. I wasn't born into the tribe."

"Really? Oh. Well then. I guess I just chained up an innocent NightWing in my cabin. Nothing weird about that."

 _Riiiiight. So that 'don't even try escaping' thing was a complete bluff._

 _Sounds like something Jyn would-_

Milo sighed.

He figured Jyn was dead. He was sad about it, sure, but nobody could have survived that.

 _I'll miss you, buddy._

"So uh, can I get down _now_?" He asked hopefully.

"Sure. But you have to promise me something first." She ordered.

"Anything. Well, except killing you, and suicide. Those would either scar or kill me."

She giggled. "Well okay then! I was about to make you to promise not to hurt me, but it looks like that's already out of the way!"

A pair of talons walked into his field of vision.

 _Huh. Her scales are orange. Another SkyWing, I think. I'm probably still in their kingdom…_

He heard the chains beginning to rattle overhead.  
"Er, tha-"

He suddenly was hurtling towards the floor, landing on his face.

"Ow! A little warning next time you drop me on my head, please?" He complained.

"Whoops. Sorry." She apologized.

He turned around to study her.

 _Woah...that's new._

The dragon stood a bit taller than him, and had more defined muscles, but her limbs were a bit thin, like she was more agile than physically strong. She was covered in scales that were an odd mix of blue and orange streaking across random parts of her body. For instance, a long orange streak cascaded from the tip of her snout to the end of her tail, and wherever it met blue or teal scales the colors would shift to a deep indigo, like she was a living watercolor painting. He also noted the odd faintly glowing scales circling around her eyes and eventually leading down to her tail, which was long and broad, almost like it was made for forcing things aside instead of balance in flight. Her wings were about the size of a SkyWing's wings, which further confused him.

 _Very new._

"Um. Hi?" He mumbled.

She was eyeing him curiously. "Is it just me, or do you not have those weird star-splash thingys on your wings like NightWings usually have?"

He spread his wings, looking back at them. "Er-, yeah. Probably a defect."

She jumped excitedly. "Like me! I'm weird."

 _I can see that. How can I ask this question without being rude?_

"Um, don't take this the wrong way, but yeah, you are. What kind of dragon are you?"

Her wings drooped slightly. "Uh. I um…"

 _She doesn't know._ He realised.

 _That's…_

 _That's really sad. I should change the subject before this gets any worse._

"I honestly don't think I'm a NightWing, I don't have 'mind-reading', or 'visions' like everybody's told me they have." he blurted out quickly.

She looked up, her eyes widening slightly. "Wait, really?"

He nodded. "I have literally no idea who you are. Or…." He looked around the small wooden cabin. "...Where I am…"

She laughed. "Well, I can tell you that you're in my cabin. It's...kinda a secret, so don't tell anyone."

"Why?" he asked. "I think you're pretty likeable."

"Welllllll…." she began.

"What?"

"It's just that the last time I came in contact with other dragons, they all tried to kill me. I-I don't know why, they just, pointed at me, then began chasing me screaming that I shouldn't be alive. So, I live out here. Away from other dragons. Alone. Well, sorta." She explained, her tone becoming quieter with each short pause between sentences.

 _Weird. She looks alright to me._

He re-ran that thought through his mind.

 _Shut up, me!_

"Who are you? I mean, like, what's your name?" he sputtered.

"Tradewind. My name is Tradewind. That's about all I know." She replied.

"Tradewind. Huh. Wait, that's _all_ you know? You don't have any like, siblings or relatives that you know?"

She shook her head sadly. "I was raised by Caracara, a SkyWing who's probably as close to a father as I'll ever have. But, he went out for food a couple days ago and hasn't returned since. I'm beginning to suspect the worst, really. I miss him, and I'm hoping he was just, held up, or something. It's probably nothing."

 _Uh-oh. This isn't going to go the way she hopes, is it?_

Milo poked the floor absently. "Oh. It's just you two out here?"

Tradewind nodded.

 _So she just unknowingly revealed there's no guards outside._

"Mmm-hmm. How old are you?" He asked suddenly.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Eh. Just a random, spontaneous, out-of-curiosity question. I'm just wondering, because earlier you mentioned how old I was."

"Six. I'm six years old, my hatching day's two weeks from now." She answered, a small edge of excitement barely hidden.

"Oh, cool! My bir-"

 _Not birthday, hatching day! Ahhhhh!_

"-er, hatching day was a month ago."

 _It's July here, right? I mean, do they even have names for months here? Did I just say something stupid?_

"Oh, that explains it. You look pretty young." She replied. Tradewind tapped her chin with a talon. "My turn to ask a question. Do you have any relatives? You're awfully friendly, so I'd assume so. Right?"

 _Should I tell her? About my sister? I mean, I haven't seen her in a while, she might be doing fine…_

He nodded. "Yeah. I have a sister, though I haven't seen her in a while…Moria. That was her name. I don't think she goes by it now, though."

 _Why do I suddenly feel guilty about this being the only thing one-hundred-percent truth? Well, besides my name and birthdate._

"That's nice. How is it? Like, to have a sibling?"

He scratched the back of his neck, his scales itching a bit. "It's an improvement. You kinda have to learn to get along or else you'll all end up doing things the other will resent. But, it's probably the best part of childhood. Me and my sister got along pretty well, until she left. She's just a couple years older than me." He coughed, blinking away a small tear.

"I miss her. She was the best, better than me at everything. But she didn't brag at all. I mean, she could've. She was stronger, smarter, and faster than anyone I've ever known. But instead, she began _teaching_ me how to become like that. She left with a straight face. But I think she loved me as much as I loved her. I-" he choked.

 _Oh gosh, I can't cry in front of this dragon. It'd be disarming. Primarily for me._

"I miss her very much." He finished, feeling a bit lonelier than usual.

Tradewind twined her tail around his, patting him on the shoulder.

… _?_

"You're good. I really thought the first dragon I'd meet would be full of hatred like the mob of dragons that tried to kill me, but you're okay. I like you already!"

Milo sniffled. "Y-yeah. Thanks. I like you too."

"YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!" Tradewind cried, hugging him. She quickly let go, a small look of fear passing then leaving on her face.

 _Oh._

"It's fine, you can do that. I kinda needed a hug anyways." he told her.

She smiled. "Are we friends?"  
He nodded. "Yes. I hope this friendship lasts. I think you're-" He yawned. "-fun."

 _Woah, when did I sleep last?_

Tradewind smiled, then stood up and nodded to a side of the room where to nest-looking forms were laid, made up of blankets and pillows near a fireplace.

"You can stay the night here, if you'd like. I don't think Caracara will be returning anytime soon." She told him, failing to hide the hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh. Thanks!" He stood up and walked over to the the fireplace, breathing a small plume of flame into the remaining wood to ignite the fire. The flames shot upward suddenly, dying down a bit a few seconds later.

Milo had almost just singed his face off. "Well that's some dry wood."

Tradewind walked over to one of the beds.

"You can use Caracara's since I doubt he'll be using it anytime soon." She said.

He nodded, laying himself down in the larger bed.

"Thanks, by the way." She mumbled sleepily.

"For what?"

"Lighting the fire. I can't breath fire, kinda like a SeaWing or a RainWing. Caracara usually does that before we go to sleep. He's a nice dad."

"Well in that case, you're welcome."

"Yeah."

"Goodnight Milo."

"Goodnight."

(AND HERE BEGINS THE AGE OF MY ACTUALLY GOOD WRITING BOYS AND GIRLS)


	34. REEEEEE GOOD WRITING

Okay, if you made it this far, you deserve a cookie, a glass of milk, and most of all, a hug.  
Oh, and forget everything you thought about the story so far.  
Because the quality only gets better from here.  
(Mainly because now I'm writing this as a Freshman, and have extended my vocabulary to the point where I almost want to scream in pain from all this information.)  
ENJOY, YOU MENTALLY STRONG JUGGERNAUTS. 

**Arc**

 _ **Somewhere on the edge of the Ice Kingdom…**_

Arc opened his eyes to awake in seven feet of snow.

 _Owww….what the heck…_

He blinked, then looked around.

He was lying in the middle of a crater the size of a small shipping container, in the middle of a frozen wasteland.

He looked side to side, but nobody else was in sight.

 _Not even Zazilie_.

He thought sadly.

Arc examined his talons, then looked up to spot around again. He then did a double-take, and looked back down to see that his talons weren't his own.

 _Scales? I don't recall those being there. And why are my talons so sharp now, I don't think I had serrated edges on them..._

He lashed his tail absently, then stopped in shock.

 _Are those...spikes? On my tail? What's going on…_

Upon standing up, he almost screamed.

 _What is going on!?_

He sat back down, looking back down at his shaking talons.

 _Am I…_

 _Am I a dragon?_

 **Terri**

"Gah. What in Kluex…" Terri muttered groggily, opening her eyes.

 _What happened? Was that an explosion? Is Crusoe all right?_

She began becoming suspicious of where she was, and was confused to not feel the familiar weight of her Sparrow gear.

 _Where'd my spear go..._

She wondered, stopping as she reached over her shoulder.

 _Are those scales….? Um. What?_

She looked down at her chest, remembering she'd felt a little colder than usual.

Her red feathers had been replaced with crimson scales, which utterly terrified her.

"AaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed, panicking.

Red talons seized her muzzle, cutting her off.

"Terri, _shut up._ "

"Chmmrr? Hrm hrt huu?" she asked, quieting down.

"Yes, it's Cuia." Cuia sighed.

 **Crusoe**

Crusoe woke up staring through a dew-coated canopy, with the echoing sounds tropical animals surrounding him.

 _I think...there was an explosion? At least, that's what it sounded like._

He laid in the tall grass for a short while, resting for a while.

 _I'm so hungry…._

 _And where am I? This isn't the Gateway._

He began to feel slightly chilled by the water in the grass soaking him.

 _God, I can't sit here any longer._

He sat up, instantly seeing something that gave him a giddy feeling.

 _No way._

He pinched his arm, which now was covered in sand-colored scales.

 _YAY, IT'S NOT A DREAM THIS TIME!_

He leapt to his feet, examining the changes that were made to his body.

 _Ima' SandWing! Cool!_

He was practically hopping up and down with delight.

 _How though?_

He stopped.

 _Eh. I'll worry about it laaaaater, after I learn how to fly, somehow…_

Crusoe poked nearby tree with his claw.

 _That's Mahogany! I'm in the Rainforest! I think my luck is finally catching up with me!_

Crusoe bounded away from the indent he'd landed in, not even having a single thought towards the fact his gauntlets were gone.

And the fact that this was the Rainforest during the events shortly after book one, and the NightWings still killed anything that wasn't a RainWing.

I guess we have to hope he remembers that.

 **Nathan**

"This is complete bullshit!" Nathan yelled, kicking sand down the mountainous pile of the stuff.

Jyn sat in front of him silently, his white scales terribly reflective against the sun as he looked very uncomfortable about the sudden heat.

"Are you always this angry?" He asked quietly.

Nathan responded with a growl.

"How can I NOT be?! First, I'm dragged into this stupid shitfest of running around a whole fucking kingdom just to find your sorry ass, then as I'm *this* close to actually getting a good night's sleep, the entire fucking portal explodes, and now I have to deal with this!" he gestured to his body, which was now to his disgust, constantly colors changing to match his emotions. Which apparently was red and black.

 _This is so STUPID Uuugh!_

He growled again, sitting down stubbornly.

Jyn remained silent, eyeing him curiously.

"What?" Nathan demanded.

"You done?"

Nathan scowled at him, the ruff behind his ears turning solid black.

"I hate you."

Jyn relaxed, an amused look fixed on his face. "Apparently not then…" he muttered.

"This is your fault. If you and Milo had just waited instead of going off and doing something stupid, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess! Maybe we wouldn't have so much stress on our minds! MAYBE WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE FLYING FUCKING LIZARDS!" He screamed.

Jyn smiled.

"Did I mention your species are vegetarians?"

Nathan flopped his head on the warm sand, frustrated.

"I just want to go home." He mumbled.

 _Woah, why does this feel so...calming…._

The heat from the sand felt oddly satisfying against his scales, which was abnormal because normally he hated sand, as he did just about everything.

"Just uh…..I don't um..… I'll…." Nathan mumbled sleepily, slowly stretching his wings out on the warm sand.

 _I think I could go for a little nap…._

Nathan thought he head Jyn mention something about solar reliance, whatever that was.

He slowly drifted into the first peaceful sleep he'd had in years.

 **Nick**

"Nick! What have I told you, about sleeping on the job?!" Nick heard on the edge of his consciousness.

 _Ryder's okay, thank god._

He opened his eyes.

"Nick!" the gruff voice of Ryder called again.

"Uh-huh?" Nick answered sleepily, not having gotten up yet.

He heard the bushes rustle behind him.

"What in Sam Hill?! A dragon?" Ryder's exclaimed behind him.

Nick leapt up. "A dragon?! Where?"

He'd already had some close run-ins with some Wyverns before he and Nathan joined up with Jake, and he made it clear he DID NOT want to go through THAT again. Dragons were too close to Wyverns to be safe, in his opinion.

"Right there!" A claw poked his nose.

Nick blinked rapidly, following the claw up to the pair of talons it was attached to, from there, a scaled blue foreleg, up to the torso of….

A dragon.

"AH! A dragon!" Nick screamed, flailing backwards.

The dragon's eyes widened. "Another one? Where?"

 _Hold on, what? Was that…_

 _ **Ryder's**_ _voice?_

"Ryder?"

"...Nick?"

They stared at each other in silence for awhile.

"How di-"

"What did you ea-"

They paused, laughing.

"Well this is new." Nick remarked, running his talons gently over his new blue-green body.

"Agreed! Now we can _slaughter_ those U.S.C.M. degenerates!" Ryder exclaimed, flexing his talons.

 _Right…_

 _I just hope this isn't permanent._

 **Jake**

"This simply doesn't compute. How can I… how did this happen to me, with my species being non-organic?" Sparkwire asked.

Jake shrugged, exhaling a plume of flame.

"Oh. So that's how you do it." he muttered.

 _Nice. I'm learning this stuff beautifully._

"Jake, I am so unaccustomed to being vulnerable to so much more…" Sparkwire muttered, grimacing.

Jake had found him staring at his own black claws in horror, sitting in the middle of a grove of pines. He had been transformed, as Jake himself had, into a fire-breathing dragon.

Much to Sparwire's distress.

Sparkwire was coated in black scales, which prompted for Jake beginning to wonder why they looked different.

 _Maybe it's because he was in basicalities an artificial intelligence?_

Jake, his scales having a deep chocolate brown shade instead, with slightly larger muscles, which he saw no problem with at all.

He'd been struggling to master the ability to obtain flight, though.

Currently, Jake could glide from high places as well as reaching a small amount of altitude, in the wind wasn't too bad.

But alas, the wind was the problem.

Anytime he reached a significant altitude, he was thrown back to the ground, usually very roughly.

He winced, recalling the multiple times he'd failed so far.

 _Yeah. Not fun. Still, there's room left to wonder why the gate acted up the way it did, why it exploded, and_ -

Jake dug his claws into the soft ground, a bemusing expression crossing over his face.

 _Well, I guess there's this too._

He helped Sparkwire up, the black dragon having trouble adjusting to his new body.

"I can't function like this. We _must_ find Milo, so I can use his peculiar wrist garment to transform me back to my previous form. That is the only instance I that I have a possibility to regain my original body, that I currently know of." Sparkwire rattled, his voice for the first time having a tone.

Jake smiled slightly."You're worried, I get it. But before we go anywhere I think it's best we find a place to stay before-"

A flash of lighting darted out of the sky in the distant hills, the low rumble of thunder sounding not long afterwards.

"-before we get caught in the rain. Yeah, we should find some trees or something. It's getting late." Jake said, staring up at the cloud-filled sky worriedly.

Sparkwire nodded reluctantly. "Lead the way then,"

They started toward a small grove of trees, across the river and opposite of the approaching storm.

Jake heart ached for a bit more company, as he worried about the others.

 _I'll try convincing him to help me look for them tomorrow,_

The two dragons, who once weren't, were stuck in a world they knew nothing of, and had no advantages except their own knowledge.

They continued on silently the entire way toward the treeline.

And completely unaware that they were being watched.


End file.
